Cry for an Angel
by Hydraliskenmaster
Summary: A hurt little girl cries for an Angel, but she never expected that her call would be answered
1. Chapter 1

Prologue

Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière was having a bad time, tomorrow was the most important day of her life. The Spring-Time Familiar Summoning Ritual was taking place tomorrow and it was her last chance to prove to the world that she truly was a noble capable of magic.

But Louise herself didn't have high hopes, after all, once a Zero always a Zero, or so her classmates have hammered it into her.

And so she was laying in her bed in the evening silently crying into her pillow, '_Stupid magic, stupid classmates, stupid Kirche... Why can't my magic work just once?_'

Her number one bully, Kriche had _again _teased her about her magic and Louise had _again_ reacted with her temper and loudly proclaimed that she would summon a great magical creature of unparalleled strength, '_Why, why did I do it again, I will fail and they will again laugh at me'._

'_Please, oh Founder, send me an Angel to help me. I know that I am not worth it but please help me..._'

And with that last weak prayer, she fell asleep.

* * *

When Louise opened her eyes again she was expecting to be in her bedroom and not wherever she was.

"Where am I?". She looked around and found herself standing on a lush green field.

"_Will you take care of my Angel?_", Louise was not expecting the sudden question and acted accordingly.

"Wa..Wa..What do you mean?". she stammered while trying to find the source of the voice.

"_If I send you an Angel will you take care of her? Angels can be confused, Angels can love and most importantly Angels can get hurt. If I send you an Angel will you help her as she will help you?_" said the soft feminine voice above Louise, and after she turned her head she saw her, flying above her was a girl with light blue hair, wearing a white toga and sprouting two pairs of white wings from her back.

"Of course, a master has to take care of her familiar!" Louise said with pride in her voice.

"_Than take care of my Angel, Louise Françoise, for she will need you more than you need her..._" with these words the two winged Angel rose up into the sky.

"Wait, who are you, I have some questions..."

* * *

"Wait!" and with that she woke up one hand outstretched.

'_Just a dream. Of course it was just a dream what else could it be.'_

With that thought she started to get dressed and left her room.

* * *

"Not bad Miss Zerbst, a Salamander is definitely a special summon"

"My runic name is 'Kirche the Ardent' was it so unexpected?"

"Well, I think everyone had a turn now"

"No, Miss Vallière didn't have her turn yet"

"A, Miss Vallière, will you please step forward"

With a shaking hand she moved forward, wand ready, the students making a larger circle around her.

...

"I wonder if she can manage?..."

...

"I'm curious on seeing what she will summon..."

...

"She'll probably just screw up again..."

...

'_Shut up, SHUT UP, SHUT UP, WHY CAN'T YOU LET ME ALONE FOR ONCE!'_

"My servant that existed somewhere in this vast universe..."

* * *

High up in the sky, in a place that was and somehow still is was not, a two winged Angel approached another Angel. This one had just one pair of wings and was bound with chains that held her in place, these chains connected to six enormous pillars that looked like they were made of marble but in truth not even the hardest steel could hold the creature that they are holding.

"_It is time my child_."

The chained Angel rose her head as far as she could "Are you here to destroy me mother?"

"_No, I am here to give all of us another chance_." she raised her hand and put in on the other Angels head "_Hacking field!_"

The eyes of the chained Angel began to spin and change from the hellish red, softening to orange,"_You have been a tool long enough_."

_**"My servant that existed somewhere in this vast universe..."**_

From orange to yellow, the chains binding her cracking.

"_**My divine, beautiful, wise, powerful servant, heed my call..."**_

From yellow to green, the chains ripping.

"_**I wish from very bottom of my heart and add to my guidance and appear!"**_

The Angels eyes have settled on a matt turquoise, her chains now all gone.

"_You are a pet-class Angeloid, type Alpha, your name is Ikaros, now go, your new master awaits you_" and with these words the Angeloid named Ikaros went through the green portal, the pillars collapsing behind her.

* * *

There was a explosion, no, the word explosion was not doing justice towards the devastation that happened after Louise finished her chant.

Smoke was everywhere, Students trying to stand up after being thrown away.

"See, told you the Zero would just screw up again!" shouted a random student.

"And the success rate is still Zero!"shouted a angry Kirche.

What all of them failed to realize except for Professor Colbert and Tabitha were that the familiars had a very different reaction, some of the larger ones jumped in front of their masters trying to protect them, and others trying to pull them away, full of panic.

Despite the blast strength Louise was still right where she started her chant not a hair in a different position.

'I failed again, why can't you grant me this at least!?'

…

"Imprinting"

...

A chain started to form out of thin air, surrounding Louise right hand, and startling her enough to drop her wand.

Everyone heard the words and as the smoke started to clear saw the chain surrounding her hand, holding their breath no one dared to move and for a moment that seemed like eternity everyone waited.

The moment was interrupted when Tabitha summoned a gust of wind to clear the smoke.

"It is a pleasure to meet you"

Before them kneeling, with her hands on her knees and her head low, dressed in white armor...

"I am a pet-class Angeloid"

Her great wings were stretched out, she rose her head to meet Louise pink eyes with with her own matt turquoise, her hair short, a darker shade of pink except for two strands of a much darker color running down on both sides of her face and two ponytails that are as long her her body running down her back in the same shade of pink, her ears covered in the same material as the rest of her armor.

"My purpose is to fulfill your every want and desire"

Before them was the creature that is said to have given the Founder the magic of the Void and guardian of the heavens.

"You are my master"

An Angel.


	2. Chapter 2

Tabitha closed her book.

That sentence was one of the top three things that send all the students and even a good chunk of the teachers of the Tristain Academy of Magic into panic, it is right next to 'The Vallière is about to cast a spell' and 'Professor Colbert is angry'. All three of these are equally terrifying.

So, lets see, Louise has cast a spell.

Professor Colbert is not angry, but definitely perplexed.

Tabitha dropped her book.

…

Trying to describe the mix of confusion and terror that was running thro the students to someone who was not there was like describing color to the blind, sound to the deaf and reason to the insane.

No one could blame the one half of the students that ran away in panic, picking up their familiars up or simply running along with them.

The other half simply stared at the scene before them not really sure what to do you could hear some of them silently praying.

And in the midst of it stood the pink haired girl, who has no idea what to do with the stoic Angeloid that was awaiting the first order from her.

"That… is...definitely an interesting summon Miss Vallière," Professor Colbert finally broke the silence.

Colbert was not a very religious man, of course he would never admit to anyone, doing so would be like asking the church for problems.

To him, the founder indeed was a great man, creating the art of magic through unknown means. He was a brilliant man that deserved every piece of recognition he got for protecting humanity against the Elfs but to him he was just that, a great man long gone.

So for him to suddenly have all the old stories confirmed was not possible, and that is exactly how he treated it for him this was simply another unknown magical creature that was not known of jet and after he said that to himself often enough he could finally continue talking.

But still the similarities are enough reason for worry if the church gets wind of this, and indeed the similarities were there. In the Founders prayer book the Angel that gave him his power was briefly described and if he remembered correctly than it was something about the most beautiful women that the Founder ever laid eyes on that had great shining wings, and there was a difference, the being before him had light pink wings, many would argue that it was not nearly enough to dismiss the other parts but for Colberts mind for now it was enough to dismiss the idea that before him was holy Angel of God.

"M..Miss Vallière please finish the ritual."

That got a reaction from the students, even if it was just looks of pure disbelief.

And Louise for her part was just standing there looking at her new familiar not even knowing the world around her even exists, for her it was just her and her familiar. The Angel that stated that she was sent to earth just to serve Louise. In her mind she started to remember her dream, "Please take care of my Angel." said the Blue-haired Angel.

"_It...It...It was not a dream._"

"Miss Vallière!" at the loud voice of her professor she finally snapped out of her trance.

"If you are finally back with us, please pick up your wand and finish the ritual." he said with a smile.

Louis complied, picking up her wand and walking to the Angel as regal as she possibly could.

"P..P..Pentagon of the F..F..Five Elemental Powers, grant your blessings upon this creature and bind it as my familiar." She said shakily taping the Angel at the forehead she waited for a second before giving the still kneeling Angel a quick peck on the lips, throughout the whole time the Angel didn't move one muscle, not even a twitch, just stared into the eyes of her master.

With a flash of light symbols started to appear on the on the left hand of the Angeloid.

"Well done, Miss Vallière. Now that we all had our turn summoning, class is dismissed!"

Kirche was not ok with this."W..Wait, you can't just-"

"Class dismissed Miss Zerbst!"

And with that the last of the remaining students got the massage and left, levitating away.

* * *

Louise found herself staring yet again into those emotionless turquoise eyes.

"Is something the matter, Master?" The Angel asked, sitting across from her.

Right now they were both seated on Louise's bed.

"Eeemmmm, w..w..what's your name?" she managed to finally interrupt the uncomfortable silence.

"My name is Ikaros, I am a pet-class Angeloid, type Alpha, send by the Synapse fulfill your every want and desire. Please Master, give me a order." Ikaros said while scooting a bit closer to Louise.

Louise in return scoot back a little bit.. "W..What can you do?" You could see that the young girl was really uncomfortable right now, for one she was confused asking herself questions like: "_Why me?'Was this some sort of joke, was she still dreaming, was the Founder testing her in some way" _her head hurts just thinking about it. On one side she could not believe her luck that the Founder had heard her call, on the other side it scared her, the Founder never did things like this, was there some sort of great plan going on that she was a pawn in?

"We Angeloids were created solely for our Master's pleasure. You can ask us for anything you desire." She said while scooting closer to Louise in a very suggestive manner, not that Louise knew that. She, after all, was a good girl and didn't read the books that her sister, Éléonore, had forbidden her to even think about, no, not at all and she was only blushing because it was hot in her room.

"A..Anything?"

"Anything."

Louise was starting to come down a bit after another awkward silence, but her head still hurt too much to think about all of this right now.

'Ah, what should I do? Order around a Angel? She is practically begging me to give her something to do.'

"You can…wash my clothes. Yes,I need them ready for tomorrow."

"If that is your wish."

"Yes, please do that for me." Louise said while quickly striping off her clothes and giving them to Ikaros who simply stared at the clothes in her hand.

"Ah, yes, a maid should be able to show you where the washing room is. I am tired and will sleep now, can you wake me at dawn?"

"Yes, Master. Good night."

Before Ikaros could leave there was a sound of rustlingheard while she moved,

"Wait, what is with the Cain?"

"The imprinting can strech 'till infinity, there is no need to worry about it master."

'An infinite chain?!'

"B..But other could trip over it, can you do something about that?"

After a few seconds the chain disappeared. It was strange, Louise could still see it but at the same time she couldn't at all.

With that Ikaros left the room and Louise finally went to sleep.

* * *

"I tell you it has to be some sort of trick! There is no way Louise, the Zero, can actually have a Angel as a familiar!" a enraged Guiche shouted over his colleagues.

After the Summoning ritual some of the students have come together to discuss what happened.

"Then what the hell was that thing then? Do you want me to reread the description that was left behind by the Founder again?" Came another male students' voice.

They had already put a good half an hour of debating behind them.

"I tell you. It has to be a trick. Some mage used an Illusion on the girl and the Zero used the explosion to cover it up." Guiche was the son of a General and his father made sure to instruct the boy in military tactics, deception was one of them. "_The enemy that can not win with brutal force will try to trick you. The Zero, while a having no skill in magic, definitely has a big stock of money from the Vallière's treasury_" He thought to himself.

"Pulling something like this is not a problem and she has to do it because she would be expelled if she failed the exam." He said, full of confidence, only much later will he find the flaws in his logic.

"Well, that can be true I suppose." Kirche said.

"We can't just let something like this happen! We have to do something!" Another student threw in.

"Why should we? She put so much work into it." Kirche said feeling smug. "If it is fake, it will blow up in her face anyway."

"I suppose that is true." Montmorency added.

"Are we really going to let this slide like that?"

"Well, I don't really care about it, so you guys go have fun. I have a date for tonight." With that being said Kirche left the room for the night. It was late after all.

* * *

Ikaros, like the good Angeloid she was, was looking for a maid who could point her to the washing room where she could wash her Master's clothes.

She had no idea why she had to do it in a special room but orders were orders.

As she got outside, she saw a girl wearing a black and white dress, carrying a basket with clothes. Was this a maid? Well, Ikaros didn't know so she made a short hop to the girl while making a flap with her wings to catch up with her.

"Are you a maid?"

The girl in question jumped a bit at the sudden question, not expecting the question. The instincts that she picked up during her time here quickly caught up.

"Yes. Yes, I am. What can I do for…" The words died in her throat as she turned around to the person that addressed her.

Let it be known that if there is one thing that is faster than light, it is rumors. It was very possible that her highness had already heard about the incident in this years summoning so it was no surprise that the maid named Siesta has already heard about it. The bad thing about that was the the rumor-kitchen already had cooked up something and that something was that the Angel was send to Halkeginia to look for sinners to punish them for their bad deeds.

Now Siesta always thought of herself as a good girl, but seeing a armored girl with her wings wide open, some of the stronger spirits can get weak in that moment.

She fell to her knees, basket forgotten, and started praying.

"Oh Founder, who has gifted us with magic and fought all evil for us..."

"Do you know where the washing room is?"

"...may you praise the, huh?"

"Do you know where the washing room is?" Ikaros asked again.

"Y..Y..Yes, I..I..I w..was just on the way there myself, I..I c..can show you the way." Siesta quickly picked up the clothes that she dropped and started walking. She was very nervous and had a really hard time not tripping on the way.

"_Oh god, oh god, oh god! What is she going to do to me, why the washing room, will the blood be easier to clean from the stone wall_s?" Lets be fair Siesta always had a wild imagination and paired with fear, that can go into a very wrong direction.

And so the two of them went to the washing room with Ikaros walking behind Siesta and Siesta feeling like they're going to her own execution. The short walk took a whole eternity when they finally arrived.

"Is this the washing room?" Ikaros asked after a moment.

"Yes." Siestas voice was very quiet barely a whisper, her heart hammering in her chest. Like it was trying to beat in the short amount of time it had left.

"Transport." There was a bright light behind her, was she preparing her punishment device? She wanted to turn around so badly but at the same time was too terrified to even breathe properly.

There was a clicking sound and suddenly a low rumbling was heard, and she waited…

…

…

…

…

…

…

After what seemed like another eternity, Siesta finally couldn't take it anymore and turned around...

...to find the Angel standing in front of a pink box that seemed to be the source of the sound not even looking at her.

"W..W..What are you d..d..doing, t..t..that is if you d..d..don't mind me asking?"

"Washing my Master's clothes."

"Thats it?" She asked a bit stunned.

"Yes."

Siesta's knees finally gave in and she collapses, breathing heavily.

"Are you ok?" The Angel asked.

"Yes, I am fine" Siesta answered a bit out of breath. "_Still have a job to do._" And so she went for some water. Suddenly a sound was heard from the pink box, the Angel opened the box and took out the clothes and started to fold them.

"What is that thing?" Her initial fear forgotten, now looking at the storage box.

"It is a washing machine."

"And it washes clothes? Just like that? You don't have to do anything?"

"You have put the clothes in, start it, and pull them out when it is finished."

"C..Can I use it?" For her, the idea of the clothes washing themself was an opportunity just too good to pass up.

"Go ahead." Siesta quickly took her basket and laid it next to the washing machine.

"Ehm, how does it work?"

"You put the clothes in here, close it, then you press this button." The Angel explained.

Siesta slowly complied and shrieked a bit when the machine started rumbling again.

"And now?"

"You wait 'till it is finished."

"Aha."

…

…

…

"Ehm… what is your name?"

"Type alpha, Ikaros."

"Miss Ikaros then?"

"Ikaros."

"Ah."

…

…

…

"You are an Angel right?"

"Angeloid."

"Angeloid?"

"Yes."

"What is that."

"Angeloids are created by the Synapse to serve our Master."

"So you are not a Angel of god?"

"I am a pet-class Angeloid, type Alpha, Ikaros. I was created by the Synapse to serve my Master."

"And who is your master?"

"Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière."

"Eee, what is the Synapse?"

"I have no information stored regarding the Synapse."

"Aha."

"_Ah, I am confused is she an Angel or not?"_ The words are so similar maybe the Synapse is another word for Heaven?

DING

Siesta jumped a little at the sudden sound.

"It is finished." Ikaros said.

Siesta slowly opened the top of the machine and started to take out the things.

"It..It's warm and so clean." She said while holding her cheek against a skirt.

"It has a built in dryer."

"S..Say can me and the other maids use it for the laundry?"

"I see no problem with that."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! With that thing we can do our work at least twice, no, three times as fast as normally!" Siesta jumped at Ikaros and hugged her in a rush of joy.

Only after a few seconds she realized what she was doing, and jumped back in fear of offending the Angeloid.

"S..S..Sorry I was just so happy I..." Siesta started rambling.

"What was that?" Ikaros asked

_'She doesn't know what a hug is?' _Right now Siesta was very concern about Ikaros. She was not sure what to do but in the end she decide to simply explain.

"A hug."

"Hug?"

"You don't know what a hug is?" Ikaros shook her head.

"Well, Humans do that when they are happy or when another person is sad and needs some comforting."

"Happy or sad." Ikaros repeated.

* * *

"But really, that Louise, making so much trouble again!" Kirche said as she and Tabitha went to their beds.

"I mean come on, now I am late for my date!" They turn the last corner on their way.

"And putting so much work for such a over the top Illusion!" Suddenly she stopped when she realized that her friend was holding her arm.

"Tabitha?"

"Dragons don't fear Illusions." And with that sentence she opened her bedroom door and left a stunned Kirche standing in the hallway.

* * *

"STOP!" Louise woke up with a scream, tears flowing from her eyes, she had a terrible nightmare, the church had sent an Inquisition to the school and tried to kill Ikaros with boiling water after branding her a heretic.

Louise turned to the side and tried to sleep again, it was not her first nightmare and she was used to them.

What she was not used to was the sudden skincontact that she felt and the protective arms that closed her in from behind and the pink wing that laid itself over her like a protective blanket.

"I..Ikaros, what are you doing?"

"I am giving you a hug Master."

"Why?"

"Because you are sad."

Anything else she tried to say, was suddenly forgotten as Louise was drifting into the best sleep she had since she started the academy.


	3. Chapter 3

Soft, that was the first sensation that Louise felt when she came back to her senses.

"Master, wake up."

She was way too comfortable to do that, she decided to continue hugging the large warm pillow in front of her.

"Master, wake up it is dawn."

Wait a minute, if she was sleeping in her room where she normally was alone then who was asking her to wake up?

Her short moment of panic quickly went away when she started to remember what happened yesterday.

Her own Angel!

She felt so giddily that she started to hug her pillow a bit tighter.

"Master?"

Wait a minute pillows are not supposed to be warm… nor are they supposed to hug you back…

When she opened her eyes the first thing she saw was skin. That confirmed that the thing that she had half her face burrowed into, was a well built chest of a women and the pink around her confirmed that this was her familiar.

…

After about three seconds of thinking the events of last night came back to her.

Then another three seconds to realize what that implied.

"AAAAAAAAAA!" with a scream Louise leaped backwards, only the problem was that gravity is unforgiving and Louise's bed is not that large.

"Master, are you ok?" Ikaros asked approaching Louise grounded form from the bed.

"Yes familiar, I was just a bit startled."

Not letting the uncomfortable silence stretch on Louise quickly stood up.

Again her familiar was giving her these begging eyes, looking at her with a slight tilt of her head holding her top half of her body upwards with her hands, her legs still lying and wings just a bit outstretched, begging her to give her something to do.

A man would have already completely fallen for her.

"Ehm, are my clothes washed?" she asked Ikaros.

"Yes master, they are on the table." Ikaros stood up from the bed.

Louise went to the table and started dressing herself. She would have done so if not for her angeloid again looking at her with those eyes.

"You… could dress me if you want."

"Yes master." and Ikaros when to undressing her master and putting her fresh washed clothes on.

"Anything else master?"

"No, let's head for breakfast now."

* * *

"Good morning Zero!"

"What do you want Zerbst?"

These two sentences had become somewhat of a morning ritual between Kirche and Louise.

"As rude as always Zero." Kirche finally noticed the angeloid behind the girl.

She looked next to her to see Tabitha's concentration full on said familiar, someone who was not familiar with Tabitha would think she was still reading, but for Kirche it was clear that the book was no longer interesting for the girl.

"And there goes the chance of this being just a dream."

"And what is that supposed to mean Zerbst?"

Kirche gave Louise a somewhat harder look before laying both hands on her shoulders:"Listen, Vallière, did you really summon her honestly and without any tricks?"

Louise was a bit taken aback by the sudden seriousness of her enemy."Of course I did, why are you planning to ruin this for me too?"

"I am not planning anything but your little summon here caused quite a bit of turmoil around the students, I don't know what rumors they will put together but regardless if you did summon her or that was just show, be careful" and with that she left, Tabitha close behind her.

* * *

'_Well, at least they are not laughing at me that is something, right?_'

That was only positive thing that Louise could get out of the stares she was getting.

Literally every single one was staring at her and Ikaros only hushed whispers were given into her direction, and what Kirche had said worried her greatly, they would never try to hurt her familiar, she was after all seen as an extension of her master and as such any action taken against Ikaros could be counted as direct assault against her and while she had been bullied she had never been physically assaulted, they can't just hurt her right?

With that said and new found confidence she walked to the dining hall.

"Familiars normally should stay outside." Louise looked at Ikaros with worry "And I kind of forgot to go to the headmaster for you to eat inside."

"Don't worry master, Angeloids don't have to eat, we can live purely on breathing and can have that cut off for about 720 hours before there is a risk of getting damaged."

Louise stopped in her tracks after hearing that.

"That is a bit… well, can you eat, I mean taste things?"

"I am capable of categorizing food based on the receptors that are on my tongue."

"So… that is a yes?"

"Yes."

Louise shook her head.

"Just wait in front of the dining hall for me."

"Yes master."

'_Confusing Angels_' was Louise thought while walking to her seat.

Only after she had take her seat she realized the second wave of stares she was getting, it was really unnerving and only after a few moments she realized that she preferred the open taunts.

She said her prayer and started eating very quickly.

* * *

Tabitha knew that she normally would never do this.

And yet she was doing it, Charlotte Hélène d'Orléans Charlotte de Gallia alias Tabitha was approaching a pink winged Angel no book in hand with the intent to ask questions.

She stopped in front of her and stared, she was still not very good with words and so she waited for the Angel to make the first move…

and she waited…

and waited…

…

After five minutes she finally had enough.

But the problem was, how would she start the conversation, she had never done that before.

'_Yes, the book!'_ she thought, that was missing she always was reading when someone tried to speak to her, and so she promptly opened her book and started reading, it was 'Advanced wind magic vol.2'.

Now the Angel will surely start a conversation.

…

…

…

'_This is not working at all!'_ she realized after another 5 minutes.

She began to panic slightly, she was Chevalier Brimir be damned, it could not be so hard to start a conversation.

'_Kirche always does it, but how, she normally approaches them and what, just talks to them? Yes sounds about right.'_

'_But what should I say?'_

And so another 5 minutes passed in silence.

**Thump**

Sylphid just landed next to her, to be exact she landed on Tabithas other side and did her best to hide behind her small master.

'_Why is she scared of her?_'

Well now or never, Tabitha started taking a breath and…

"Ikaros, there you are, come lets go to the tables, today there are no classes to get to know our Familiars better and that is what I want to do." came Louise voice from the door.

"Yes master."

And just like that Tabithas chance was over.

She breathed out again and started to walk away, after all Louise was right, today the students are supposed to learn more about their familiars and after yesterdays chaos she did not even have time to find out what race her dragon was.

"That was so scary, Kyuu." came the female voice next to her

"Why?"

"I don't really know, Kyuu, it feels like bad things are going to happen when Illococoo is next to her, like that one time the the earth was shaking really badly, it was the same feeling, but why do you ask big sister, don't you feel it?"

That was interesting, did that mean that this Angel, Ikaros was it? was comparable to a natural disaster like an earthqua…

Wait, what?

She spun around to meet the face of her familiar.

"Kyuu?"

* * *

Louise sat down at the table that had two chair and wanted to start her questioning, only to find Ikaros still standing.

"Please sit down" Ikaros did "So, where to start… yesterday you said that you are a 'pet class' what does that mean?"

"Pet class Angeloid are designed for the sole purpose to pleasure our masters with whatever they desire."

"Whatever I want you can just make it happen?"

"I will do whatever you desire, master."

"So if I want to have a banquet in front of me right now you can just make it out of thin air?"

"I can request it from the Synapse."

"Synapse you said that before what is that?"

"I have no information stored regarding the Synapse."

"Nothing at all?"

"I was created by the Synapse, I can request items from the Synapse to fulfill the orders of my master." stated Ikaros.

"Thats all?"

"Yes." that was, surprisingly little. Louise lost a sigh. '_So much for finding out more about her_'.

"Would you like some cake, milady?" Louise was not expecting the question from next to her.

"Yes please." while in her thoughts '_Cheese cake, YES GIVE ME, GIVE ME, GIVE ME._'

"You too miss Ikaros?"

Ikaros inspected the desert with a short look before nodding.

Full Stop.

How did that maid knew the name of her Angel?

"Maid, how do you know the name of my familiar?"

"We had a conversation in the laundry room last night milady."

'_A, right I gave Ikaros my clothes yesterday._'

"I have to thank you again for your gift miss Ikaros, we managed to get our work done faster than ever before." now that sounded interesting

"Gift?"

"Yesterday miss Ikaros washed your clothes in some kind of box that she made out of nowhere and it really speed up washing, I asked her if it was ok for me and the other maids to use it, milady." that made kind of sense but what was that with the storage box.

"Please, show me this box later." she said while looking at Ikaros "And why did you help her?"

"Was it wrong to do so master?" Siesta was worried, was the noble going to take away the 'Washing machine', did Ikaros went against some orders to help them, was she now going to get punished for Siesta being so stupid and speaking before her master?

"Not really, I am just wondering why you did it" Siesta silently breathed out in relief.

"It would have made no sense to deny her to use the washing machine when I was not using it."

Logical was the best words to use for Ikarus, she was really good at the rule of steel the way she was all emotionless in her voice:"It is the duty of the nobles to protect the commoners so helping them from time to time is ok."

Ikaros thought about the words for a second before asking "Master, what is a noble?"

"Heh?" that question was really unexpected "Well nobles are those who are gifted with magic by the founder Brimir, to protect and rule over the commoners."

"You said that helping them from time to time is ok with relation to being a noble, why?" what was with all the questions today and did she really not know this, was ruing in Louise head right now.

"Well you are my familiar and familiars are seen as extensions of their master as such everything you do will be viewed as my actions." Louise explained.

"And what is a commoner?"

"Well, the maid here for example is a commoner." Louise finally took a look at Ikaros' eyes, instead of turquoise they were bright green.

She did not expect her to stand up and suddenly walk up to the maid and pluck a hair from her head and put in in her mouth.

"Scanning… scan complete, Siesta, Trabes added to protection list." the whole process was completely unexpected and no one had a idea what to say about it.

"I… will be taking my leave then." Siesta quickly excused herself, this was getting on a level of nobles and their magic, just ignore.

"What is going on with your eyes, they were green just now!?"

"What do you mean master?" Ikaros said with a tilt of her head.

"You know what, never mind" Louise said remembering the cheesecake in front of her.

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE URANUS QUEEN IS GONE!" Minos was having a bad time and that on itself was a understatement.

"The Angeloid with the designation Alpha, Uranus Queen, has left the sensor range of the Synapse and has since then not been detected"

At that Minos slapped one of the servant class Angeloids across the face "Angeloids don't just disappear, we have scanners in the whole solar system and you tell me that she is just gone?!"

"Confirmed" said the still on the ground lying Angeloid in a robotic voice.

"GAMMA, BETA!" he screamed out.

"Yes master" came the synchrone answers.

"Find her, bring the Uranus Queen back to the Synapse!"

And with that they vanished.

* * *

Unaffected by what was happening in the synapse Ikaros and Louise were eating their cheesecake or in Louise case devour it with manners.

**Twitch Twitch**

"What is with that hair on top of your head?" Ikaros stood up and looked into the direction of the other students.

"Siesta is in danger." and then she vanished, leaving a very surprised Louise behind.

* * *

'_Why, why did I find that stupid little bottle and why did I have to give it back?!_' this was the only thing that was running through Siestas head right now in front of her a raging blond Guiche that had two very visible hands on his cheeks.

"...a disgrace, you should learn your place commoner!" screamed a enraged Guiche and lifted his hand to slap her.

Only for his hand to suddenly stop in mid air and not being able to move at all. He turned to see what was stopping his hand only to have his vision blocked by a set of turquoise eyes that seemed to be completely emotionless, and on top of all that, seems to not be looking at him.

"What are you doing?" only now he realized that the supposed fake angel was talking to him.

"What? I am punishing that worthless commoner for her actions against me, and you, how dare you rise your hand against me? You herrick pretending to be an angel!" Guiche broke his hand free from the grip and he was now angry with the supposed fake angel.

"It seems you need to learn your place, I shall punish you for your actions with a duel, meet me at the Vesrti court in fifteen minutes." but before he could go on his way a slightly panting Louise was next to them..

"What is going on here, Guiche you exactly know that duels are forbidden."

"Only duels between nobles are forbidden" he returned smugly:"As such me dueling your familiar breaks no rule."

"Master, I have a question."Ikaros suddenly interrupted.

"Yes Ikaros?"

"If familiars are seen as extensions of their master does that mean that Guiche challenged you to a duel?" Louise thought about it for a moment and her familiar was kind of correct.

"That is true and as such your duel is invalid because we are not allowed to duel" Louise now had a smug look on her face, she looked a bit to her left to see the still out of her mind scared maid "Come maid, I wanted you to show what you spoke about a few minutes ago."

Siesta, still a bit shocked from what was happening and only a cough from Louise got her back to her senses:"Yes, this way miss Vallière."

And so they left leaving behind a very angry Guiche who after a few seconds stomped of.

* * *

"Now please tell me what happened that got that idiot so angry?" Louise asked after the trio was not longer in range of the other students.

"I found a bottle of perfume on the grass and wanted to give it back what ultimately led to Sir Gramont being discovered two timing." Siesta answered, she did not know what to think right now, first she gets a nightmares come true by accidently angering a noble only to be saved by another noble, but why, why should a noble help her, but then she looked to her side seeing the Angel.

In todays conversations she heard that a familiar is supposed to resemble a master then what was miss Vallière, who is this girl who is supposed to have Zero talent in magic that god gave her this Angeloid as a familiar.

Louise made a heavy breath "That was so obvious I don't even know why I asked." then she realized the intense look she was receiving from the maid.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Siesta just realized that she was staring quickly turned her head way and started stammering.

"I..I am terribly s..sorry milady it won't happen again."

"If you have to say something then speak." Louise said impatiently.

"I...It is j...just that I was t...thinking, today I heard some of the other students say that a familiar is supposed to represent some aspect of their master and I was thinking what that says about you milady." she said while looking at Ikaros.

That got Louise thinking because that maid was right what did that mean for her, she too started looking at Ikaros who simply tilted her head questioningly.

* * *

Guiche was angry, how dare that maid simply mock him like that and how dare that Zero and her worthless familiar interfere with his punishment like that, damn Zero and her heretic.

At the last thought he stopped moving and got a smile on his face.

'_That's it!'_

* * *

**Author notes:**

First of I want to thank my beta readers: YouthAndWhiskey. Pentagram , INeverKnewLoveHurts and Horsemuon17. You guys are awesome.

And the second thing I want to do is thank all my readers for the great feedback, this story is kind of my new playground where I throw words against a wall and see what happens, maybe there will be romance, maybe not, to answer a few questions. I exactly know where I am going with it but I have no idea what I will do in between, sometimes I write stuff how it comes and sometimes I change one scene 4 times a day, so sorry to disappoint you but there will be no fixed times when the next chapters come.

The two storys Zero no Tsukaima and Sora no otoshimono, have always been my favourites when it comes to concepts but then they went and made typical harem comedy out of it although Zero no tsukaima still didn't get hit to hard but Sora no otoshimono got a punch to the face, the mangas didn't get hit to hard so I my main infos will be based on them with a few exceptions here and there for example in the manga, Hephaestus is a giant cannon that fires a straight wide laser beam.

I try to make my characters a bit more realistic(leaving some mental scars on Louise for the bullying and her family looking down on her, Tabitha being a bit mental because, you know, suicide missions since she was about nine!) and my main focus next to the storyline will be world building, the start of the adventure all should be familiar with but how the butterfly effect taught us that even a small change can make a world of difference later on and I fully intend to turn the world upside down in this story.

My biggest fear when write is to go to OOC so if you think that that happened, please tell me that said I had real trouble when writing this Chapter because I simply had no idea how to start this conflict and after long thinking periods and manga based research this is the result, constructive comments please.

That is about everything I wanted to say and normally I don't do Author notes if some questions start to stack up I might do it again though, that said I hope you enjoy my story, peace.


	4. Chapter 4

"That could have gone wrong very fast," Louise quietly said to herself.

She would never admit it but had Ikaros not pointed out the fact about master familiar relations then the duel may have happened with horrible results. All in all she was just happy that Ikaros was ok, after all she got a mission: to take care of her Angel. It was her mission and she will make sure that it happened.

With that thought in mind, she could walk with a bit more pride, Ikaros like always right behind her and next to her the maid. The washroom was her destination.

After a short silent walk they reached their destination and Louise was shown the construct that was supposed to have helped the maids so much.

It looked rather unimpressive. "So what does it do?"

"Well it cleans clothes, and the best thing is it does it by itself and in such a short time, it just takes a few minutes and they don't even need to be dried," the maid explained things

"How long does it take to clean the clothes of one student?" Louise was a bit aghast that time was such an important factor. It could not take that long, right?

"About half an hour per student." At that, Louis could only be surprised ,considering the academy had about 300 students.

"No surprise then, that you are so happy about it, but I think that we have wasted enough time for the other students to calm down." And with that, Louise set out back to the tables to enjoy the rest of her day.

"Ah, yes milady, and again, thank you for the help," Siesta said while bowing.

The maid sounded a bit strange to Louise just then, it was a completely different posture that the maids normally had and the smile was somehow completely different 'Has to be my imagination.'

"Think nothing of it, just don't get into trouble again." And with that she left.

The rest of the day went by relatively eventless, except for Louise trying to find out more about Ikaros and either being given a "I have no information concerning x" or having to answer questions herself that had been a bit strange sometimes. Questions like what certain titles ment in her society. 'I mean who doesn't know x means x' was her line of thought, then she remembered that she was not talking about a normal person.

But enough of this , she was tired from the eventful day and wanted nothing more than to lay down on her bed and rest.

"Good-night, Master."

"Good-night, Ikaros."

* * *

It was a good night for Tabitha; clear skies, wind soaring thrrough her hair while she rode on her new companion Sylphid, who she just found out was a rhyme dragon.

Her first reaction was to be scared. After all, rhyme dragons were thought to be extinct for a reason. Just about everything on them was in some form useful for mages. That is why they got hunted down to the last one, or that was what Tabitha thought until today.

After she found out, the first thing she did was make Sylphid, or Illococoo as she called herself, promise to never speak to anyone except for her, and only when they were alone.

But right now both of them had no worries, flying through the cloudless night.

That was, until they spotted Ikaros standing on the roof of the middle tower staring into the night sky. Tabitha remembered her attempted conversation this morning and why she tried to do it in the first place.

With new courage, she pointed Sylphid into the right direction to try again.

This time, the moment she landed Ikaros turned to face her and started staring at her. It was not much but this little acknowledgement was enough for her to start a conversation.

"Name?"

"Ikaros, you are an unidentified subject. who are you?"

"Tabitha, Louise, classmate."

…

Tabitha didn't like silence. that was one of the reasons why she like to spend so much time with Kirche. The girl would talk like a waterfall. That said, the Angel simply staring at her was making her very uncomfortable.

"Why are you here," Tabitha finally asked.

"I am waiting for my Master to wake up."

"Sleeping?"

"Angeloids don't sleep."

…

"Why Louise?"

"I don't understand this question." Tabitha rarely showed emotions but this Angel was on a completely different level. She could not read any emotions at all, as if there were no emotion to read.

"Why is Louise your master?"

"Because she holds my chain."

"Why?"

"I have no information concerning this subject."

"Whoever holds the chain is your master?"

"Correct." Her eyes wandered to the collar that was around her neck and to the piece of chain that was hanging from it.

"Why is it broken right now?"

"It is not, I just made it invisible on my masters wish so that it would not become a problem." Tabitha stored away that informations for later and was about to ask the next question when suddenly. a long strand on the top off Ikaros started twitching odly.

"Master is in danger." And with a flap of her wings, she vanished leaving, a confused Tabitha.

* * *

Louise, upon closing her eyes, found herself on a green field. She recognized it from the first time she was there, where she meet the two winged Angel that foretold the arrival of her own Angel. She didn't have to wait long, after only a few moments she appeared ahead of her.

But before Louise could say a word, the Angel spoke. "_Be careful Louise, danger is coming. Lairs will try to fool you and Alpha, do not trust the false ones..._" And with that, she was already gone.

"Wait!" Again, Louise woke up with a hand outstretched and sitting upright. Again, the two winged Angel was gone after only speaking in riddles.

A shiver went through Louise when she recalled the massage. The 'false ones', was it some kind of demon or maybe even many coming for her? A cold fear came over Louise. ere they after Ikaros?

Suddenly, her curtains started to flutter and without her noticing, Ikaros was next to her bed. "Are you alright, Master?"

When Louise laid her eyes on Ikaros, her worry shifted from being afraid for herself to being afraid for her Angel. 'Take care of her' was the first message, it was the burden she accepted. It was the first time in her life that someone had trusted her with something, and by Brimir, she would not fail.

Determination, that was what her fear morphed into.

"Master?"

"It's… nothing Ikaros, I just had a bad dream."

"Should I keep you company?"

"No, it's ok. Good night"

"Good night mast-"

CRASH.

"WHAT THE-"

The next thing Louise saw when her vision cleared was the head of a blue dragon stuck where her bedroom window was a few seconds ago, and a light blue haired girl that was standing ready with a staff looking at her. Her brain needed a few seconds to understand the situation and after a few of them she finally decided what to do.

"WHAT IN THE NAME OF BRIMIR ARE YOU DOING IN AND TO MY ROOM TABITHA!?"

* * *

"So just to finalize,"Louise started to list, "you were flying outside with your familiar because you like the night air."

Nod.

"And then you met my familiar on the roof and started a conversation."

Nod.

"After that, my familiar rushed to me because she thought that I was in danger, and that is also what she said while rushing to me."

Nod.

"And in combination with what happened today, you thought someone who wanted to harm me because of my familiar, or someone who was sent by Guiche or Guiche himself was attacking me in my room."

Nod.

"Whereupon you decided that if that was the case, I would need help and used your familiar by the name of Sylphid", "Kyu!", "as a distraction so that you could surprise my assailant."

Nod.

"Did I miss anything?"

Shake, Shake.

Louise looked at the red faced, slightly bowed Tabitha in front of her, then to her right to Ikaros who like always, had a blank look and then, to her left where there was a dragon sized, blue filled, hole where her window once was. She took a deep breath before she spoke again.

"Thank you." Tabitha looked up to meet Louise's eyes with a questioning look.

"I was not expecting that someone would actually care enough to rush to my help."

"That said," she got a bit louder,"I still have no place to sleep for tonight because of the dragon-sized hole in my room. What are you going to do about that," she asked while looking sternly at Tabitha.

"Teacher?"

"Do you really think that anyone in this school is going to care about a explosion in my room?"

Tabitha winced slightly but said nothing in the regard.

"So, any idea what to do?" Louise asked again with crossed arms.

…

...

"Good-night."

"'Night."

"Good-night, Master."

Ikaros blew out the candle in Tabitha's room and the two students went to the land of dreams.


	5. Chapter 5

Leave a constructive review or your waifu will never love you! I like to read them...

* * *

The first thing Louise saw after regaining consciousness was something very bright, In fact, it was too bright, and she promptly closed her eyes again. 'Why is it so bright, my tower window is on the north side,' was her first thought.

The events of yesterday evening came back to her. 'Tabitha's room must be on the east side.'

The sun was just rising up, that meant that it was still was to early for breakfast, and with that she snuggled to her pillow again. This time it was pillow sized and made out of fabric, so she concluded that it was not her familiar.

"Good morning, Master." And there she was.

"Good morning, Ikaros." So much for sleeping a bit more. "Where is Tabitha?"

"She is in the bed, Master." That got Louise to turn her head to the left. No Tabitha there, and now to the right, and on that side to was no sign of the blue head she was looking for either. "What are you talking about Ikaros? She is not here."

"You are holding her in your arms, Master." Wait, what? Louise looked down to her pillow and sure enough the fabric was simply Tabitha's night garb. the girl herself was pressed against Louise chest and for the first time in her live Louise knew how it felt when someone had to look up to see you and she would be enjoying it if not for the fact that Tabitha was awake.

For a few precious seconds there was silence.

"Good morning Tabitha." Louise said while the words deja vu played out in her mind, she was about to snap back the same way she did the first time but a slight sting on her head remember her about the result of that particular action and so she continued to hold the bluenette.

"Morning." came the short reply and there was silence again while they stared at each other.

"You are huggy when you sleep."

"I noticed." answered Louise, and again there was silence.

"Should we get up?"

"That would be a good idea."

After another awkward second they untangled themselves and got ready for classes. Louise got a bit worried when she remembered that her clothes were still in her demolished room but calmed down after she saw that Ikaros prepared everything for both of them.

And so they left the room and went for breakfast.

The journey was cut short by something Louise only ever dreamt of, maybe not in the literal sense but it was something that she desired oh, so, much, since she started the academy. And here it was right in front of her, how great was her desire to just do it but it was her lust against her honor as a noble and she wanted to do it so badly.

A snap decision and she did it.

Kirche von Zerbst made a mistake that you should never do in any form of warfare, she had her back turned to her enemy as she waited for her to come out of her usual door.

"GOOD MORNING ZERBST!" She screamed it out as loud as she could starling Kirche so badly that she jumped in fright and fell over her familiar.

"Why Zerbst!" She walked past her "A noble should never lose her balance like that, you shame the other nobles like myself, you should correct that" she lectured while walking to the stair and holding her finger up lecturing, Ikaros right behind her.

"Wa.. what just happened?" Kirche finally stammered out while still being grounded, she looked at Tabitha, questions in her eyes.

The blunett in return was with her head in her book covering her whole face but it was not enough, for just a slight second she shook just a tiny bit trying to prevent herself from laughing at her unfortunate friend.

Naturally that made Kirche finally question the existence of the encounter.

* * *

Dinner went of without anything interesting and so the second year students were on their way to their first class that was earth magic with a new professor.

She introduced herself as Professor Chevreuse and started the lecture fairly normal with some boring theory that Louise already knew by heart after having to always be at her best in the theory to make up for her failure in the practical parts, that led to her being always being about three months ahead of her class, not that it helped her reputation. It only added nerd to the zero.

Because of that she already knew everything that the Professor was going to say and left her mind wander to yesterday evening. 'What did she mean with 'The fallen one''. In front of her was the Founder's book, all student had to have one with them all the time. As she lazily flicked through the pages looking for anything that might give her a hint what was coming. The book was divided into three parts, Rise of magic, The pilgrimage and The Holy war.

Right now she was in the middle of The pilgrimage where he meet Gandálfr -The master of arms and made him his Familiar, It was a interesting read, Louise knew that most of it was inaccurate in some way or form but it was a interesting read nothing the less and she did not know that the Founder had four familiars but she suspected that familiars was used as synonym for companions or friends that the founder made along his journey and that only this Gandálfr was his real familiar. This Vindálfr for example sounds like a very strong Water mage as the only magic that could take control of another living creature that Louise knew of is coming from this particular element but its use on humans is highly forbidden, but there is no law that makes it illegal on animals. Clever Vindálfr, to bend the rules like that.

Louise thoughts were interrupted when a irritated Professor Chevreuse asked her a question when she thought that Louise was not listening. Foolish professor, you are trying to mess with THE Louise Vallière about something that is theoretical, HA.

She stood up and perfectly answered the question about transmutation what claimed the professor down as she saw the Louise was listening.

The only problem was that after that professor asked for a demonstration and Louise, despite her successful summoning, had no confidence at all to not blow up the spell.

"Professor, you can't be seriously asking Louise the Zero to cast a spell."

"And why should this be the case Miss Zerbst?"

"Have you not heard what happens when the Zero casts a spell?"

"All I have heard is that she is a dedicated Mage that always gives her best."

"I will do it!" While our little Louise was very smart and well read for her age but her temper was another story and there is not much that triggers it more than the busty redhead.

"Come on Zero please think about the safety of your classmates." A random student shouted.

Her lips curved down a bit and her eyes narrowed 'HARD NOT TO THINK OF A WAY TO ENDANGER IT WHEN YOU TORMENT ME EVERY DAY' her mother did teach her to keep her emotion in check so that sentence did not leave her lips.

Before she knew it her wand was in hand and pointed at the three little stones that were meant to bekomme brass. She knew that she would fail, summoning Ikaros was an exception, a gift, a proof that sometimes a wish can come true and against all odds even the Zero can succeed at something, but it would not happen twice.

Louise knew that no matter the chant or how much more or less willpower she would use, it would always blow up, never harming her but those around her, she did experiment a lot to find out what was wrong with her magic.

How easy it would be to just change her aim just a tiny bit, because of her small body she was pointing her wand nearly completely horizontally, all it would take was a small tilt of her fingers and a few of her problems would be gone. Afterwards just a few fake tears and all would be good.

But like always she resisted, a Vallière should never act on her emotions no matter what.

"Rel Im Yon" The words left her mouth and energy started to gather around the stones and the unavoidable came in form of a ground shattering explosion that the whole school felt.

Many coughs where heard before the class came back to its senses. "Brimir Damn it Zero, are you trying to kill us?", "And Zero is back in business, today explosion ala earth magic", "And once again back to Zero."

The irritated shouts where heard all over the room, the professor was unconscious on her back but alive, she saw the falling and rising of her chest.

"Lets go Ikaros." Louise could already predict the taunts and had no interest in hearing them again so she quickly left as there was no doubt that class was cancelled and it is not like anyone had the guts to blame her because of her family name.

On her way out she came past Tabitha who was reading her book and look completely unharmed what meant that she waiting outside, how she left the room without anyone noticing she would never know.

"Was I really so predictable?" Tabitha didn't answer, Louise didn't need the answer to confirm it.

* * *

They walked to the teachers room to inform them what happened last night.

They both imagined the discussion to go a lot different.

"But Professor!"

"Now miss Vallière, a noble never should lie like this."

"I am not lying!"

"So you want me to believe that that hole was caused not by you but miss Tabitha's familiar?" Colbert asked.

Tabitha and Louise nodded furiously at that.

"Well I am sorry to say so, but I don't believe a word," he turned to Tabitha "I do applaud you for standing up for your friend Miss Tabitha but it is her burden to bear."

"But..." Tabitha never finished her sentence. as Louis started to drag her out of the room.

"Its ok, lets just leave."

* * *

Despite the initial chaos that happened after the ritual the next few days were relatively calm and Professor Chevreuse learned her lesson about asking Louise to do any kind spell.

Tabitha and Louise got a bit closer to each other as a result of sharing the same room, it was mainly just smalltalk but for Tabitha it was different. Her friendship with Kirche, who talked nearly all the time and Tabitha just listened, with Louise it was different because she sometimes actively involved her in certain topics. Be it school work, her current book, or just opinions on certain matters that came up.

It was an unusual experience for Tabitha because normally no one cares about the 'Shy silent girl' opinion. It was a welcome change and she found herself speaking more over the last two days then in the last month.

Naturally Kirche realized that her blue counterpart was starting to go missing she started to go spy on them and find out what is going on. Her excitement was immense when she saw both of them plus Louise familiar go to Tabitha's room in the evening.

She held her ear on the door and started listening.

"...I mean you are easily line with your watermagic, you can't expect me to believe that you have to go through that basic book." she could hear Louise asking.

"Revision is important to improve your skills." Tabitha answered.

"As if that works."

"...Your explosions are strong." she retorted after a short pause.

"And what exactly are they good for?!"

This time Ikaros answered "There are many uses for the kinetic energy you create, one possible application is battle." Tabitha nodded at that.

Louise paused while changing "I don't want to fight, that is not what magic was meant for. Magic is supposed to help people. Noble are supposed to help people." Silence followed as Louise gave Ikaros here clothes for washing who also picked up Tabitha's uniform.

Sadly Kirche didn't know this as she was busy pressing her ear harder on the door to make out what was being said and as destiny command it. She quickly found herself face first on the floor as Ikaros opened the door.

The first thing she that greeted her was a good view beneath Ikaros' armored skirt when she rolled on the floor holding her nose.

"What. are. you. doing. here. Zerbst?"

"I could ask you the same Zero. I remember this not being your room." she retorted while holding her nose.

"THAT IS BECAUSE I SLEEP HERE WHILE THEY FIX MINE!"

"... How did you manage to wreck your room so much that you can't even sleep in it?"

"I DIDN'T WRECK MY ROOM! NOW GET OUT!"

"Now wait a moment why should I not allowed to be here?"

"Privacy maybe? But forgive me that was too much to expect from a cow!"

The exchange was interrupted by Tabitha who hit both of them with on the head, one with her wand the other one with her book. "Quiet, you'll disturb the other students."

Louise got devious look on her face while massaging the spot where she was hit.

"You are completely right Tabitha. Ikaros why don't you help Kirche here preventing herself from disturbing the students by dragging her away."

"Yes master."

"Wait, what?" that was all Kirche could say before Ikaros took her ankle in one hand and started to drag her of the room.

As she started walking away Kirches mind caught up to her. "Hey stop that this instant!" The only answer she got was two waving students.

Flame, who was behind Kirche, didn't like the way his master was treated and decided to jump Ikaros. A 100 kg lizard jumping at her familiar frightened Louise somewhat. Ikaros didn't even seem to notice the extra weight and went on her way, unhindered.

Louise and Tabitha didn't know what to do at that display and quietly made their way to bed.

Only after they laid down and faced the ceiling they broke out laughing.

* * *

The Capital of Romalia, a place where your faith to the Founder and his teaching go above all else.

There, in the grate chapel, sat the pope, Vittorio Serevare, who was talking to his most loyal and faithful priest, Julio Chesaré, who was about to head out to investigate an acusion of heresy in the Tristram academy of magic that came from an anonymous sender.

"I honestly doubt that this will take much time my lord. I will take my companion and three knights. That should be enough to guaranty safe travel and a quick way to deal with the problem if there is one to begin with."

"I trust your judgment on this Julio. But I am worried with the unrest that has been going on in Tristram. Take this thief, Fouquet, for example." The pope had a worried look on his face,"What if it is a trap."

"Don't worry milord. If I remember correctly then the springtime summoning happened just a few days ago. A student just panicked at the summon black dragon or something like that. You know how children are."

"Hm, very well Julio go investigate and be on the look out for the other void mages and be careful, you can never know what you may encounter. May the Founder be with you."

"I will my lord."

With that they parted ways, Julio leaving and Vittorio retiring to his room.

The room of the pope was a very fancy one, ornate tables and chairs, gold decorations with one or two gems here and there.

Personally Vittorio hated it but what can you do, such is etichete.

He was about to make himself comfortable with a book when he was interrupted by a sound that he both loved and hated.

He went to his dresser and with a quick press of a hidden button a drawer opened revealing the object that made the sound, it was a round mirror.

The mirror itself was said to be given to the first pope by the founder himself to warn them from danger and was given from one pope to the next.

It would look like an ordinary mirror if not for the fact that this mirror did not reflect yourself but was a connection to another place, to a being sitting on a marble throne, the angle Minos, who often communicated with him to warn him of coming danger.

In the journal that recorded every meeting between the pope and Minos the Angel was always smiling, a perfect picture of elegance beauty and perfection.

And for the first time in history he was not.

Vittorio already regretted sending Julio.

* * *

The next day came and classes were fairly quiet. To quiet. Not that it botherd Louise. She was busy continuing to look for signs in her book. Later in the afternoon, where she shared a table with her new blue friend and her familiar, who somehow seemed a bit scared about being close to Ikaros.

Her peaceful afternoon was interrupted by her table being sent flying.

Looking up she saw a furious Kirche. She was a mess, her clothes were ripped in some places, she had many bruises over her whole body and the look in her eyes was nearly as bad as the one her mother had when she was angry.

"Hello, Louise! Nice to see that you enjoy your day! Guess how I spend mine?"

Louise closed hand descended into her palm as realization came upon her face. "That's why it was so quiet! You where missing! Where where you by the way?"

That was the wrong answer as Louis got lifted up by her collar and Kirche started to shake her furiously. "GUESS WHAT, YOU'RE FAMILIAR DECIDED TO TAKE YOU BY YOUR WORD AND DRAGGED ME TO THE CAPITAL WITH NOTHING BUT MY CLOTHES!"

"So-oo-or-ry." Louise stammered out while being shaked like a cocktail.

"SORRY WONT CUT IT ZERO! I HAD TO RUN THE, WHOLE, BRIMIR, DEMAND, WAY!"

Louise finally freed herself from her grip "How could I have known that she would do that." she turned to Ikaros "Why DID you drag her so far away?"

"The order was 'preventing herself from disturbing the students by dragging her away'. I calculated the distance that would prevent her from disturbing any students that were at the academy at that time and that was approximately 63 km away. To prevent her disturbing herself, I dropped her of a populated area." She explained in a matter of fact voice. "Master, did I do something wrong?"

'AGAIN WITH THE HEAD TILT, how can I be mad at her when she is so cute.' Louis screamed inside her head.

In the end, she surrendered to her inner voice. "No Ikaros, it's ok. I should have worded my order better."

Kirche calmed down a bit after seeing the display.

"Be carefull next time. I can see that it was intended as a harmless prank but... "

That is how far she got before an enraged professor of wind magic stomped over to her "Kirche Augusta Frederica von Anhalt-Zerbst!"

"Damn it!"

"Where were you young lady?! You missed my class today and we already had a discussion about you missing classes because of your nightly endeavors!" He got a close look of her. "And look at yourself! You didn't even clean yourself up! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

She took a short look at Louise who was in panic at the prospect of this being her fault and made a snap decision.

"Nothing professor, I am sorry and I won't let this happen again."

"You should be Young Lady." And with that he started to drag her away. "You will have a lot of time to think about your actions while writing a ten page essay about the topic you missed!"

Louise, Ikaros and Tabitha just stared after her.

"Did Kirche just cover me?"

Tabitha nodded at that.


	6. Chapter 6

Before we dive into the story, the Mott arc will not be happening because Siesta didn't waste so much time doing the laundry and as such they never met. The real reason is the ark was only necessary in the original Familiar of Zero to solidify Siesta emotions for Saito. News flash, this story doesn't have Saito. Besides there are way more interesting things to write, like the first action scene.

* * *

The days passed and Louise had yet to find any hint that could explain her dream, and if that wasn't grinding on her nerves badly enough another problem revealed itself.

The princess was coming personally to reward the winner of the familiar examination that was in three days. She had no idea what to do with Ikaros to impress the princess. They hadn't seen each other for so long, she just had to impress her somehow.

Louise was pacing back and forth in Tabitha's room thinking about the disaster that was about to hit in three days. Tabitha was outside practicing some stunts with Sylphid.

Damn it, her competition was a wind dragon and she couldn't just shout out that she had summoned a real angel. She was very aware that everyone thought that she had summoned some kind of bird-women, not an Angel. Ok, she had to take a step back.

Louise took a calming breath."Lets start with the basics. What can you do?"

"I will do whatever you desire, Master."

"Right, wrong question." Louise remembered how literal her familiar could be at times; she needed to rephrase that.

"How physically strong are you?"

"This body has a pressure limit of 350 kg/cm² and can lift up to 12000 kg." Louise had to double check.

"Could you please repeat that?"

"This body has a pressure limit of 350 kg/cm² and can lift up to 12000 kg."

That was a lot more than Louise expected. And a problem, if she showed too much power people would get suspicious, she knew that very well.

"Ok. Let's try something else. How fast can you fly?"

"The top speed is Mach 24."

"Mach 24? How much is that?" Louise tilted her head to the side.

"One mach represents the speed at which shockwaves travel."

Louise thought long and hard about what her familiar could mean with that. She remembered one of her early lessons in water magic where the teacher demonstrated a water blast spell. If Ikaros could fly twenty four times that fast, then she could easily outfly a wind dragon.

After a long period of fruitless thinking Louise decided that working with an empty stomach would get her nowhere, and so they went for breakfast. Ikaros once again positioned herself in front of the dining hall, as Louise had given up trying to feed her.

Siesta chose that exact moment to drive past here with her kart on her way back to the kitchen and noticed the lonely angeloid.

"Ikaros?" the maid stopped and got a questioning look on her face. "Why are you not eating? Its breakfast time."

"Master said that I should wait outside for her." Ikaros replied.

Siesta didn't really know what to do now, has Ikaros done something wrong and was she being punished by her master with no food for a day?

Her decision was obvious, after considering the way Ikaros had helped her and all the other maids, she grabbed the angeloid by the hand and started dragging her to the kitchens.

The trip wasn't long, Siesta quickly seated Ikaros onto a table and went to the headchief to get a trail of food. When asked why, she simply said that it was for someone who had saved her from an angry noble once.

Needless to say the chef made an extra portion.

"Ikaros, I have something for you." Siesta returned to the table from where Ikaros hadn't moved a muscle. "This should give you right what you need for the day."

Ikaros, in return, didn't really understand how the food would help her in any way but decided not to question it, after all Siesta's advice had worked so far and the excess energy could be useful.

And so, she decided to dig in with gusto.

Siesta could only watch in astonishment as Ikaros devoured her food without even chewing it. She wanted to tell the angeloid to slow down but before she could even open her mouth Ikaros had already finished. She remained there, simply staring at the angeloid with her mouth open.

"Thank you." Ikaros said as she used a napkin to clean her mouth.

"You had to be really hungry." Siesta replied as she took the empty plate.

"No." With her meal finished, Ikaros stood up. "Angeloids don't need food to survive."

"Then why did you eat it?" Siesta asked. "I mean, you can taste it, right?"

"The food will be turned into excess energy that I can store for later use and I am able to taste out every single ingredient and how it was prepared."

"Now that's something I want to see!" Marteau, the chef of the kitchen, surprised them. "This was a special mash that has various ingredients and is one of my own recipes."

Ikaros, instead of giving an answer, simply walked past the large man and took a look into the kitchen. She was about to start cutting vegetables when Marteau stopped her "Now wait a moment! You can't just go into the kitchen in full armor!" He scrolled her "It's most likely dirty."

Ikaros responded by simply striping completely nude.

That got her the attention of the whole, now red faced, staff. Not that the angeloid paid them any attention as she happily started chopping an onion.

Siesta quickly rushed out of the room and got Ikaros one of the spare maid outfits. "Ikaros, you can't just walk around nude like that! Please, put this on."

"Why?" Ikaros asked while cutting.

"Because going around like that is indecent!" Ikaros responded with a tilt of her head, but after some coaxing from Siesta put on the outfit.

After about half an hour of cooking, the angeloid stopped and presented the finished dish to Marteau who took it and tasted it with the most critical look on his face he could muster.

That instantly broke when he realized that Ikaros held what she promised, it tasted exactly the same, he doubted he himself could have replicated it so precisely.

"I have to admit, I doubted you would be able to deliver." He got a broad grin on his face. "Looks like I got competition in the kitchen." He said with a hearty laugh while giving Ikaros a pat on the back.

The moment was interrupted by a distressed looking maid who ran into the kitchen. "Chef we have a problem! We just checked the warehouse and our fish was stolen!"

"What?" His face was of pure confusion. "We got one full cart of fish this morning who would even need so much fish?!"

A short distance away Sylphide sneezed so loudly she scared Flame into setting his food on fire.

"This is bad! Fish's the main dish for the brats this evening." He looked around for a moment "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU LAZY EXCUSES OF RAT FEEDERS WAITING FOR! MOVE IT, WE NEED FISH!" The kitchen exploded into action as all of them remembered that Marteau the head chef and had the mouth to back it up.

What no one was expecting was that Ikaros suddenly decided to leave through the still closed window and left a angeloid sized hole in the wall.

"What the?" Siesta asked at no one in particular

Louise chose that exact moment to appear looking for her familiar. "Ikaros?! Where are you?" She spotted the maid through the hole in the wall and recognized her from a few days ago. "You, maid!" She pointed at her.

"Y-Yes milady?" Siesta asked nervously.

"Do you have any idea where Ikaros is?"

Siesta started to fidget around trying to explain herself as best as possible. When asked why she tried to feed Ikaros she told Louise that she was responsible for all the familiar getting fed and Louise was mostly happy with the explanation.

"Well where is she now?" She asked impatiently.

"Did I somehow offend her with what I said?" Marteau asked himself while stroking his beard.

"Hey, look!" One of the maids pointed upwards and, indeed, there was a bright pink 'something' flying towards the academy.

Before they had even chance to observe it, the object was already above them, creating a high pitched sound and shattering multiple windows.

"What the..!"

"What in Brimir name was that?"

"AAAAA I don't want to die!"

Before the chaos could spread the pink object was back, this time way closer to the ground. Actually, it was sliding on the ground, and was coming right for poor Marteau.

Everyone in close proximity was knocked away as a gigantic cloud of dust rose from the impact point.

Before anyone could question what was going on a voice was heard "Will this be sufficient?"

Louise and Siesta recognized the voice but, after the smoke cleared, the most unbelievable thing wasn't that the angeloid had her wings fully out in the maid dress, no, it was the gigantic fish that was twice her size balanced on her shoulders that drew every single pair of eyes.

"I think that solves our fish problem." Marteau said weakly from his grounded position.

Louise was observing the damage Ikaros had created just by flying past them and stored this fact into a growing corner of her mind that was dedicated to impossible things her familiar could do.

As she watched Ikaros with the fish, she got an idea.

* * *

Louise decided to take Ikaros into the forest and after some trials and errors, they worked out a routine where Ikaros would take a big boulder and fly around with it and destroy it at the end. They practiced for a while until it was time for dinner and they went on their way.

Later that day, Louise ran into Tabitha who was also practicing. Needless to say, it was very awkward that they ran into each other while both tried to practice in secret. Louise broke the silence by saying, "I won't tell if you won't either." Tabitha only nodded at that, and they both started practicing again.

It was evening when they stopped and took a break.

"Do you think that one of us will win, Tabitha? I mean you got a freaking dragon and you have to admit Ikaros' stunts are good."

"Others take this competition seriously. They want to stand good before the princess."

"Why do you want to win?" Louise, despite Tabitha being a good student, couldn't imagine her friend as the competitive type."I mean, you are not even from Tristain, are you?"

"It is a good exercise and teaches me the limitations of my familiar."

"Hmmmm."

* * *

The next day

Tabitha, Louise, and Ikaros where walking to breakfast when Kirche came running up to them.

"Louise," she stammered out in panic. "You have to hide your familiar!"

"What are you talking about Zerbst?"

"The Inquisition is here!" Louise immediately stopped walking. "There are four dragonriders at the front door talking with the headmaster."

Louise was frozen in shock. Her previous nightmare returned in full force and suddenly, the warning was all too clear.

"Hey, Louise? Do you hear me?" Kirche started shaking her because of the lack of response she was receiving.

On the inside, Louise was already starting to make a panic induced plan about her escape from the academy, and in her mind's eye she was already planning a route to the deserts.

"LOUISE!" Kirche finally managed to snap her out of it with her panicked scream, but Kirche was no longer holding Louise. Instead Ikaros was holding Kirche at her wrist while her eyes were spinning and green.

"Your presence and vocal output are causing a massive emotional disturbance in my master." Ikaros was tightening her grip. "You are now considered a threat."

"Ikaros! Stop!" As soon as the words left Louise's mouth. Ikaros stopped her assault. Only after she stopped did they realized an angry looking Flame biting down on Ikaros's leg while flames were streaming out his mouth.

"Flame. You can stop now."

"Ikaros, are you ok?" Again her eyes flashed green for a split second.

"All systems run with optimal efficiency."

Hearing how strong her familiar is and doing pretty looking practices was nothing compared to seeing the bite of a Salamander that can bent plate armor while heating it up to 300 degrees get shrugged off like nothing.

Shrugged off, ha, Ikaros didn't even realize it until she looked down.

The Angeloid didn't know what to do with the looks she was receiving.

"Is something the matter, Master?"

"No, no, everything's alright."

Before the silence could drag on Tabitha interrupted them."The Inquisition."

And all went back to panic.

"What do I do, what do I do, what do I do?!" Louise's panic attack was interrupted by a slap from Tabitha.

"Stop panicking," the bluenette said with a firm voice. Louise, for a while, didn't know how to react to the fact that she was just physically assaulted by her friend.

"You slapped me?" Louise had to double check.

"Yes, I did. Now you are calm." Louise had no other choice but to agree.

"Still, they will be here any moment. What do I do?"

"Lie," she said as if it was the most simple thing in the world.

"Just like that? Lie to the church," Louise asked bewildered. "What would I even tell them? I am a bad liar."

"There they are," Kirche interrupted, pointing in the direction where the headmaster Osmond, professor Colbert, and four inquisitors where coming from.

"Just follow my lead," Tabitha whispered to Louise.

The air was tense and Louise had problems breathing, many things would depend on the next minutes and she was oh so scared. Scared of the Inquisitors, scared for Ikaros and herself, scared for her family and what it would do to them when she was accused of heretical actions.

It only took a few seconds for the groups to meet, but for Louise it may very well have been an eternity.

"Greetings. My name is Julio Chesaré," the first of them, a blond, moon eyed man -with one of his eyes being red and the other one blue- said. "I am here with my companions to investigate an accusation of heresy, but the good professor already explained everything to me."

'Wait what,' Louise thought.

"Yes. The similarities between Ms. Vallière's familiar and the prophet of god are very inconvenient, but no reason to panic. My personal theory is that she is from a clan of bird people from the mountains."

"Heh. Is that true?" Julio turned to Louise.

Before Louise could get another panic attack, Tabitha jumped in. "We haven't found out much about her yet but her clan name is Angeloid, that could have caused the accusation."

"Indeed the similarities are alarming, but I am glad that we could clear that up quickly." Julio addressed his companions "We should take a break and find an inn for the night then make haste to reach Romalia by the evening." But Old Osmond simply could not let this stand.

"Sir Julio, in two days we will hold the Familiar examination, the princess herself will reward the winner. Why don't you stay here? We can provide a room and care for you and your dragons."

'Please say no, please say no, please say no.' Louise chant in her mind.

"I would love to take you up on that invitation, Headmaster."

'DAMN IT!'

The teachers and the four knights made their way back while Louise and Tabitha made their way back to training. Ikaros was rudely stopped by Kirche, who glared daggers at the innocent looking Angeloid.

"Why did you only react to me that way and didn't even twitch when Tabi slapped Louise."

Louise completely forgot that that even happened; she now looked with interest at Ikaros, waiting for the answer.

"Your physical assault only raised emotional distress while Tabitha's assault had the opposite as a result."

Tabitha herself forgot that she could very well find herself at the receiving end of the Angeloid's wrath and paled at the thought of her being assaulted by the brute strength that Ikaros possessed. She would have to be more careful from now on.

* * *

A while later at a dark abandoned house in the forest.

"What do you mean, 'change of plans'? I already prepared everything for tonight!"

"Our informants have warned us about a additional presence during the planned attack. We have a new job for you..."

"YOU WANT ME TO WHAT?! ARE YOU INSANE?! THE LAST PLAN WAS ALREADY HARD ENOUGH BUT NOW YOU WANT SOMETHING THAT IS IMPOSSIBLE!"

"Impossible or not it has to be done and if you care for your sister's safety, I would suggest you get get this done with haste."

* * *

The day had come, and Louise was more nervous than ever. Well no, the meeting with the inquisitors was worse, but it's the expression that counts.

She was currently waiting in the back of the stage tent until the show started, and that was grinding badly on her nerves. Why was something always happening way too often lately.

"Psssst!" Louise was brought out of her musing by a cloaked stranger trying to get her attention.

"What the-" She quietly asked herself as she walked closer to the stranger. She got close enough so that she could be able to hear the cloaked intruder whisper. Then she saw who was under the cloak.

"Prin..." The rest was interrupted by Henrietta's hand that frantically gestured for Louise to be quiet.

"Pssssht! Louise! It's good to see you again, but please be quiet," Henrietta whispered. Louise nodded and the princess removed her hand.

"Princess, what were you doing here? Shouldn't you be at your seat?"

"I know, but I just wanted to see you again, my dear Louise. After all the fun times we had together, I couldn't hold myself from visiting you for old time's sake." Henrietta's eyes became a bit glassy. "I tried to visit your room yesterday, but you weren't there."

"I am sorry Princess. I was staying the night with a friend." Louise said apologetically. "You still remember our times together? I thought you had forgotten since I was not allowed to visit you anymore," she said with a saddening voice.

Henrietta took Louise into a hug. "Louise, my best friend, I would never forget you."

"The show starts in 10 minutes, everyone get ready." Colbert's voice sounded from the entrance. "You wouldn't want to embarrass yourself in front of the Princess, would you?"

"I should go now. Best of luck, Louise," Henrita worriedly said.

As soon as the princess left, the first students got ready. The shows ranged from a show of strength, to grace, to cunning, and beauty. Every familiar was showing it's skills in a unique way, and before she had the chance to look at the clock, it was at the last 3 contestants. Guiche had finished quickly, just making a boastful pose with his mole.

The next one interested her way more, despite already having seen it. Tabitha's performance was breathtaking, especially the part where she lets herself drop only to be caught by Silphid.

After a deafening round of applause it was finally her turn.

Louise took a deep breath and walked onto the stage with as much confidence as she could muster. As she stood in the middle of the stage she took a quick look at the audience. In the front was Tabitha, sitting with Kirche and the others who had already finished their performance. They were far in the back, surrounded by her musketiers. Next to Tabitha was the headmaster and the other teachers, including the four inquisitors.

With her full confidence she spoke up,"I am Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière and I am presenting you my familiar, the Angeloid, Ikaros!"

With that signal, Ikaros jumped from behind the stage, accelerating upwards. She stared with a simple loop the she interrupted right in the middle to make multiple aileron rolls, followed by a high speed acceleration around the school. The aerobatics where only the introduction as Ikaros started a ninety degree climb upwards going faster and faster only to suddenly stop and fold her wings midair.

Her fall downwards only got faster and faster until she opened her wing, which to everyone's horror, only speed up her fall. The inevitable happened and she collided with the ground in an explosive fashion. Some of the professors looked to Louise, but as they saw that she had no worries on her face, they quickly calmed down.

Suddenly another bang was heard from the smoke, than another one, and another, and another. It continued on until a gust of wind appeared, blowing the smoke away, and everyone saw Ikaros lift a boulder that had nearly her own size out of the ground. With another flap of her wings she lifted herself of the ground and was airborne again. She flew faster and higher until she reached the height of the tower and threw the rock with all her might.

Than Ikaros let herself fall again and made a round so close to the ground the audience could nearly touch her before she again started flying towards the now falling rock and punching it with immense strength, shattering it into thousands of tiny rocks so fine that it glowed in the sunlight when it rained down as fine sand. Ikaros herself was already back on stage and bowed with Louise.

The applause was deafening. Everyone was standing on their feet, clapping their hands and screaming in adoration. Louise loved it. For the first time since coming to the academy there was no Zero. Just Louise and Ikaros being adored by everyone. Absolutely nothing could take this from her.

And then everything went to hell.

People started screaming, guards were firing their rifles, and mages started to chant spells. As Louise lifted her head the first thing she saw was the massive golem with a hooded person on its shoulder attacking the audience. Tabitha and many others were already in the air, some of them fighting but most fleeing in fright.

Louise first instinct was to look to the princess. After spotting her being guided by two of her personal guards she released a breath she didn't know she was holding. Ikaros only watched, not sure what to make of this situation, but noting the distress in her master.

As one they started to move towards Henrietta.

"Princess!" Louise screamed out. That got the princess to turn to her and offer a smile.

"Louise! I am so gla-" Anything else she tried to say was drowned out by Louise's scream.

"BEHIND YOU!" Her second guard only turned fast enough to see the blade the was rammed through Henrietta's heart by her other supposed companion.

"YOUR HIGHNESS!" The noise got nearly everyone who was not busy with the golem to turn to the tragedy, only to see the killer disappear in a wall of earth that shot from the ground. But for Louise, that was not important, she had to get to her friend, to do something, anything!

She rushed as fast as she could, sliding the rest of the way on her knees and taking Henrietta's hand. But it was already too late, there were no last words, no great promises of vengeance against her murder or speeches about never leaving her side. The blade pierced her heart killing her almost instantly and all that was for Louise to see was the lifeless body of her most beloved friend.

"Henrietta?" She knew it made no sense to try, but she still called out for her.

"Henrietta," she called out again, tears streaming down her eyes and ears deaf to the rest of the world.

Louise could not take it anymore and broke down crying. "Please wake up! I just got you back," she cried into her chest. "This can't be real, you can't be dead, the whole country needs you!" Much quieter she spoke, "I need you."

"I wish this was just a bad dream."

"Yes, Master."


	7. Chapter 7

Louise didn't know when she woke up but she was no longer at the side of Henrietta instead she was in the bed that she and Tabitha shared. Her eyes were puffed red and she had visible tears trail running down her face.

She looked to her left and there was Ikaros beside the window with a strange white card in her hands. Suddenly without warning, it shattered leaving the Angeloid's hand empty.

"I…Ikaros?" Louise asked with a shaking voice.

"Yes, Master?"

"W…What happened?" Louise slowly stood up from her bed.

"I used the dream program as you commanded." Louise had to collect her thoughts at that and after thinking for a few second she remembered what she said just a few moments before.

"Are you telling me that everything that happened today, everything, never happened at all?" Louise's voice cracked again. She was now on her feet with her arms wrapped around her. "That Henrietta didn't…?" She couldn't bring herself to say it.

"Princess Henrietta is currently alive." Ikaros continued in a monotone voice. "Correction, We are three days in the past. When you said 'I wish this was just a bad dream.' I based it on the whole familiar examination from the day it was revealed." Louise was now standing in front of Ikaros and holding the Angeloid's shoulders in disbelief."It is currently the morning three days ago." That was all she could take and she slowly slided down on Ikaros' body wide eyed.

Ikaros granted her support by going on her knees and taking Louise into a hug. She didn't really understand the maelstrom of emotions that was currently running through Louise but she did detect sadness among them and as such she took Siesta's advice and hugged Louise who started to cry again.

What Louise didn't know and Ikaros chose to ignore was the fact that they were not alone in the room. Tabitha heard everything and now was simply confused. Princess Henrietta? Familiar examination? And what was she talking about while using the wrong tenses.

Nevertheless Tabitha waited for Louise to come down before announcing herself by clearing her throat.

"Tabitha?" Louise stared blankly at her. "How much did you hear?"

"Everything, but you will have to explain." She answered in a monotone voice.

That again opened the floodgates for Louise.

"T-Tabitha, you have to help me." And so the bluenette listened.

Louise told her about the announcement that the Princess will come, about both of them practising together, the inquisition, and the chaos that transcendent upon the examination. Tears streamed down while she told the whole story and she was about to break down again while trying to retell the death of the Princess.

Tabitha, upon finally understanding what happend, only stared at Ikaros wide eyed. Making past events undone? That concept sounded so ridiculous she didn't know how to feel about that, yes, the Angel was strong and she know that but this was just beyond her imagination.

Nevertheless she chose to humor Louise for know, after all if she did tell the truth than today's lesson will get interrupted by a ridiculous looking Professor Colbert.

Tabitha bothered Louise to tell every detail of everything she could remember but tried to make a circle around the Princess death, trying to not upset Louise even more.

Today couldn't have started any weirder.

* * *

Red lights and sirens were blinking and screaming no matter where you looked and Angeloids were running around or using consoles trying to counteract the extreme energy drain that, without a warning, hit the synapse.

"Transferring all non-critical energy to lifesystems."

"Tracing energy drain."

"Activating self repair programs in blocks C-F."

In the middle of the chaos sat Minos with one hand over his face and a overall tired posture.

"Number thirty four." He said with a heavy voice.

One of the Angeloids approached him."Yes, Master?"

"I am just going to ask because I still don't believe it. The Uranus Queen had full access to all resources since we deactivated her six thousand years ago?"

"Yes, because she was unable to physically access any of our computers it was never put into consideration to put her off the grid."

Instead of the expected violent reaction, he only looked more tired and ragged at that."Take care of that immediately and open a secure channel to..." That was as far as he got before his screen flashed and a worried looking beta class Angeloid was on the screen.

"Master! We have been trying to contact you since forty eight minutes ago. What is going on over there?"

"Nymph, we have a lead as to where Type Alpha is. We don't know what but she did something big and the resulting energy wave was damaging our systems but we were able to use it to pinpoint her location. "He started typing at his screen "I will send you the coordinates. You and the Harpies are to find her immediately but be very careful and remain a distance for now. We have no idea what exactly she used that extreme amount of energy for."

"Yes, Master!" And with that, the screen turned black.

"I need to have a word with a certain Angeloid smith."

* * *

Louise was pacing up and down in Tabitha's room with the bluenette sitting on the bed with a shocked face.

It is always a difference between being told something than experiencing it. She still had doubts about Louise's words this morning but they all have been erased with today's canceled lesson and Louise one hundred percent accurate retelling of the day.

Making an event like that come undone and accepting something like that was no easy feat. Tabitha didn't know if she should be mad or happy.

"Damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it, damn it!" Louise cursed while she tried to think of a way to warn the Princess.

Preventing the assassination of Princess Henrietta de Tristram. Another tall order but she could at least work with this, she was used to impossible challenges.

But why bother, Tabitha asked herself, couldn't the Angeloid just make it happen?

"Can't Ikaros just do it?" Tabitha voiced.

Louise thought about that for a moment. She couldn't really imagine how turning back time could help them… but stopping it on the other hand."Ikaros if you can manipulate time like that can you make it stop somehow?"

"I can." Ikaros pulled out one of the same cards she saw this morning which began to glow.

Many thousand kilometers away a lower servant class Angeloid tipped a single command line into a console and severed the connection between Ikaros' Transport Cards and the Synapse and Ikaros' card cased function.

Louise and Tabitha were staring at the card full of expectations and were awaiting magic of epic proportions.

"It doesn't work." That short sentence made both of them topple over.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Louise screamed out."You made it work just fine this morning!"

"I have been denied access to the Synapse to transport the necessary energy." Ikaros explained. "I am no longer able to request things from the Synapse."

…

Louise slowly started rocking back and forth on the bed while slowly repeating 'We are doomed' over and over again.

Tabitha took none of that and her book met the back of Louise head. "Stay calm." she insisted "You have been given another chance, use it." Louise could swear that there was a bit of an edge to Tabitha's voice despite still having the same stoic expression.

Louise sat back up. "But how?" She said with a sulking voice. "She is guarded every minute of the day including at night! I can't just walk up and claim to be her old childhood friend. The guards would drag me away before I can prove anything."

Well, time to make plans. "We meet her when she is alone." Tabitha said with a, for Louise, an unusual edge to her voice. "We have to contact her at night when the guards are fewer and less attentive."

"I don't think that will work." Louise added. "She _always_ has her musketiers guarding her, and if I remember correctly she even had them split into two branches, one responsible for day,the other for night."

"Doesn't matter." Tabitha retaliated. "Humans are not meant to work at night and have dulled senses. Additionally, who would expect someone attacking at a school."

Louise gulped at that. "Not like that stopped them in the middle of the day, on school ground, in a crowd of two hundred students, teachers, and guards."

"Exactly." Tabitha said. "No one expected it and it worked perfectly, didn't it?"

Louise winced at that, the memory still fresh in her head.

"Master?" Ikaros interrupted. "Why don't you meet Princess Henrietta in your room?"

"What do you mean Ikaros?"

Ikaros' eyes started turned green "Playing recording from seven hours ago: 'I tried to visit your room yesterday, but you weren't there.'." Ikaros said with Henrietta's voice..

After Louise registered the words she slapped her hand on her forehead.

* * *

Thing were going better than expected and after they caught a good night sleep they decided that they would need a more specific plan. Louise this time was able to fully retell everything in detail without breaking apart.

"The problem will be the golem even if we can stop the fake guard." Tabitha said with a concerned voice. "Taking down a square level golem is hard."

They were at the clearing where they were supposed to train for the familiar examination. On Tabitha's insistent they took no chances and followed their exact footsteps.

"What if we just take out the mage." Louise remembered the hooded figure "I mean the mage was just standing on the shoulder."

"The mage will be protected by the golem." Tabitha had experience with many enemies and golems were among them, not that Louise knew but she still trusted Tabitha's judgment. "Attack the mage, attack the golem."

"Ikaros is very fast she could easily get the person away from the golem." A slight air of superiority appeared around Louise. "You should have seen her speed yesterday, to the sea and back in under 10 minutes."

The bluenette didn't know what to think about that. Yes, Ikaros was strong and durable but her main power apparently came from her cards that were useless now.

"Let's test her then." Tabitha said. "A earth golem like you described is very fast in protecting their master, If Ikaros can steal me from Sylphids back while I try to defend myself than she can do it."

After whistling once, the Drakaina (That is the correct greek term for female Dragon) in question appeared and Tabitha mounted her.

After she reached enough height that she only saw Ikaros and Louise because of the pink they had on them, and readied her staff. Tabitha knew about five spells that she could fire on a whim that should prevent the Angeloid from reaching her. Just to be sure she told Sylphid to start making circles around the two pink spots on the ground.

She saw Ikaros make a small movement, any second now, she would come.

Suddenly all the air was knocked out of Tabitha's lungs, at first she only saw colorful stripes and dots as the world around her started to spin. She desperately tried to take a breathe but only after struggling for a few second her body finally obeyed her.

After finally regaining enough control of her senses she noticed the arms that were around her midsection, holding her in the air.

After all that sunk in she only was able to glurp at the implications.

* * *

It was late in the evening and the familiar examination was supposed to happen tomorrow.

The Inquisitors this time around where so easily dealt with Louise didn't even think about them until they met Kirche. Putting things into perspective getting herself branded as a herrick seemed so unimportant in what was about to come.

If they had a clock in Louise's room then it would have either turned the youngest Vallière insane or would have suffered a death by explosion, so great was the tension in the room.

Finally, after an ungodly eternity there was a knocking at the door.

Louise ripped the door open and pulled the hooded figure inside simultaneously pulling the hood of the invader's face.

The moment Louise was sure that this was indeed Henrietta who stared at her in complete bewilderment. "Lou… Louise?"

It took the small mage three seconds of staring into her childhood friend's face and the constant mental image of her dead lifeless eyes to break down again.

Henrietta didn't really know what to do other than hug Louise back and stare at the other student in the room and the winged creature but lucky for her Tabitha decided to help her out. She laid her hand on Louise's shoulder and said. "Your Highness, we will explain everything shortly."

After Louise calmed down they all took a seat, although she was still holding on to the Princess and refused to let go.

"Tomorrow there will be a assassin at the show. They will try to kill you." To her credit Henriette only fliched, after all she was used to attempts on her live because of her status.

"What exactly do you mean, who will come for my live and why?" It was important to know what motivated her killer has so that she could go against them.

"W-We don't know." Louise finally spoke up."T-There was an earth mage and then you just got stabbed in the back by one of your guards." She stammered out.

Henrietta got confused at that. "Louise, what are you talking about?"

Tabitha interfered so that they wouldn't be forced to sit through hours of explaining."Its about Louise's familiar." She said, while pointing at Ikaros who made a short bow.

"I was about to ask, what are you?" The Princess said, her attention now fully at the winged girl in armor. "I have never seen any creature like you."

"I am a pet-class Angeloid, type alpha, name Ikaros and the familiar of Louise Françoise Le Blanc de La Vallière." Ikaros explained with her monotone voice.

Before the Princess could ask more questions Tabitha interrupted. "To make a long explanation short, Louise's familiar has a way to see the future and showed Louise your death."

"Are you sure that this ability is trustworthy?" Henrietta answered skeptically after all many of those who claimed to be able to predict the future turned out to be nothing but liars.

"Y-Yes every prediction came true no matter how small or big." Louise said still holding her Princess. "Henrietta, I saw it, no, l-lived every moment of it, I saw you d-die by a blade through the heart and I will forever remember your dead eyes." She held onto her even more desperately. "Please, you have to believe me! Before the show started you came to the tent to talk to me because you couldn't find me in my room as I was staying with a friend. You told me how much you missed me and how you remembered the times we played together as children." Louise once again had tears in her eyes.

"It's ok, Louise." She returned the hug and patted Louise on the head. "I believe you and because of your warning, I am not going anywhere."

"How?" Tabitha asked "We need a plan."

"You are right Miss?" Henrietta got a questioning look. "I am sorry but I don't know your name."

"Tabitha, Chevalier de Norfatul." Tabitha introduced herself while taking the Princess' hand and kneeling like a proper knight.

"A Chevalier?" Princess Henrietta praised. "You have to be a very capable mage to reach this title at such a young age Lady Tabitha."

"Tabitha is enough." The blue haired girl said while standing up "Anyway, we need a plan."

"I have a idea." Henrietta got a evil smirk on her face. "Meet me at seven in the morning at the Headmaster's office. We will have to do this discretely if you are right about one of my guards being involved."

"What are you planning?" Louise asked.

"Youuu willlll seeeeee." Henrietta singsanged while she stood up.

As she tried to move towards the door, she was again stopped by Louise who was holding Henrietta's hand tightly with a pained expression on her face.

Henrietta seeing this bend down to be face to face with the still sitting Louise. "Louise, I can't imagine how hard seeing something like that was for you but I promise you that I will see you tomorrow, so you have to let go for now okay?"

Hesitantly Louise let go of the hand. "I-I will see you tomorrow. Good night."

"Good Night Louise, and also goodnight to you Tabitha and Ikaros."

"Good night." Tabitha answered. Ikaros only nodded.

As they all went to bed Tabitha chose to ignore the fact that Louise's room was in pristine condition when they left for hers.

* * *

_The next day at the familiar examination._

Sitting in the presence of royalty let alone standing at the same level as a Princess without permission was considered treason and could get you executed right where you stand or took a seat in that case.

So how come Louise and Tabitha were sitting respectively to the left and right of the Princess with Ikaros in full armor and Sylphid flanking them?

It started this morning in the headmaster's office.

"Your Highness, I can't allow that!" Osmond protested. "The familiar examination is a millennia old tradition and every student has to participate!"

In front of his desk was Princess Henrietta with Louise, Tabitha, Ikaros and the Captain of her Musketeers Agnes.

"That truly is a shame Headmaster Osmond." Henrietta said dramatically. "But what can you do? I have not been able to be with my friends for so long and most likely never see them again because of my duties." Louise could swear that fake tears were running down her cheeks. "You are completely right Headmaster traditions should be upheld, in fact I should send weekly inspectors to the academy to make sure the nobility of the future is taught in every tradition and guidelines of old!" She said in a dramatic fashion.

"I am happy that you underst… Wait, what?!" The headmaster was shocked out of his seat. "I-I-I can assure you t-that is not necessary your Highness."

"But Headmaster Osmond, you can never be stern enough with the teachings of old. We have to make sure that tradition is upheld, like the pureblood laws, the uniforms, can't be slacking off on that, now can we?" She smiled kindly at the headmaster. "After all, what would the church say if the teachings of the Founder are not properly taught? "

You could see the color draining from Osmond's face with every point the Princess listed. "N-Now Princess these are all very old and there is no reason to go back to incorporating them again." He said while shaking his hands and having sweat run down his face.

"But Headmaster." Henrietta's put on a smile as sweet as newborn kittens. "After all you yourself said that traditions have to be honored."

You could see the gears in the headmaster's head turning, trying to navigate a way out of the pit the Princess just threw him in but in the end it was hopeless. "We can make a small exception." He said with a defeated sigh.

"I am glad we could come to an agreement." Henrietta said as she quickly dragged the dumbstruck teens out of the room.

"Scary." Tabitha commented from behind her book.

"Please, her Highness deals with politics on a daily basis." Agnes commented. "That old pervert was nothing."

"Agnes, you make me blush." The Princess said with her cheeks red.

"You wouldn't follow up on those threat, right? The purebloods' law is ignored for a reason." Louise asked sternly.

"That is why they teach every heir to the throne how to play poker." Henrietta lectured. "It is a fun game when you don't play with money and title on the line but learning how to bluff and reading your opponent is a must."

Later, as Henrietta saw that both of them chose to stand at the examination rather than sit with her she quickly abused the fact that she was taller than both of them and pulled them into her seat.

That got her whole squad of guards to freak out slightly unsure what to do. Henrietta quickly got things back in order by reminding them that they are supposed to keep watch for potential threats. That didn't stop the students from staring.

After some awkward silence Henrietta got them to open up and they made small talk about the candidates and the performance. When the Princess asked about Tabitha's familiar the girl simply whistle once and and the huge form of Sylphid landed next to them. Needless to say that got the guards to completely lose it and point all the weapons at the happy and clueless dragon.

They calmed down later on and Guiche was the one currently posing with his mole.

"Isn't that the son of General Gramont?" Henrietta asked.

"Sadly." Louise encountered. "Not much to him except for flirting with other girls despite being promised to Montmorency the bed wetter."

She got a tap on the head from Henrietta for that. "Now Louise!" She started lecturing. "If you can't say anything nice about a person better don't say anything."

"Yes, yes mother." Louise said with her tongue slipping out.

"Now let's not speak of the devil lest she come here and get both of us." Henrietta countered which got a healthy laugh out of both of them. Tabitha watched this with a fascination, how could someone be so casual in this position of power was beyond her.

She smirked slightly at that and thought '_Look who is talking Princess Charlotte, in theory she is my equal after all._'

Suddenly the temperature around them dropped and everyone was on the edge.

The reason for that was that Kirche stepped on the stage with her familiar, Flame.

This was a signal for what was about to happen, the last time around the attack started the moment Louise finished her performance and because she and Tabitha didn't perform this time around the only window the killers had was right when Kirche finished.

"Ikaros!" Louise whispered. "Do you remember you orders?"

"Yes master." The Angeloid acknowledged."The moment the golem appears nock the mage of its shoulder and secure the mage as prisoner."

Kirches show was impressive in her own right how she and her salamander danced around the flames was hypnotic.

Sadly it was interrupted the exact same way it was expected. Behind them a gigantic earth golem rose from the ground.

Louise had to hand it to the Musketiers, they immediately sprung into action. perfectly organized one part engaged the mage who was at the shoulder of the golem hidden behind a cloak while the other part aided the Princesses and her own escape as she was dragged along by Agnes.

Tabitha only needed a second to get airborne with Sylphid and started chanting a ice spell.

It was that exact moment when she finished and a crust of ice appeared that managed to stagger the golem for just a second that Ikaros used to launch herself at the cloaked mage… only for said person to break in half when Ikaros made contact.

Many minds that were watching simply shut down and tried to comprehend what just happened.

Tabitha was the first to notice the earth crumbling out of the half the Ikaros was holding."It's a diversion." she scream but it was to late as Ikaros got the full swing of the golem's fist that smashed her into the main tower.

"Ikaros!" Louise screamed.

In that moment something clicked in Louise mind, it was the same scene, she had drawn all the attention to herself and now the killer would strike.

Never in her live did her legs carry her that fast as she ran towards Henrietta as the killer already had his blade ready to strike.

The ripping of flesh and a sickening crack were heard as the blade hit Louise shoulder stopping at the bone and preventing it from going any further.

Louise didn't feel any of it she just saw the hooded figure in front of her and had the rest of her vision clouded in rage.

She immediately had her staff out and pointed at the would be assassins face and simply fueled by her rage the magic rushed out.

The killer was obviously a professional as he simply let go of the blade and pushed the wand out of his face with a quick hit at Louise wrist.

"What are you doing to my master?" before anyone could comprehend the words a hand reached towards the killers neck, lifted him upwards and tightened the grip as he tried to break free.

"I am asking what you are doing to her and I expect you to give me a satisfactory answer." the words were accompanied by power in form of a bright light that started to radiate of of Ikaros wings, the force started to destroy everything it came into contact with whole sections of academie building where simply send flying like pieces of paper, the struggle of the killer only increased as he was cut off from air and now terrified tried to kick Ikaros with all his might breaking a few toes in the process but it was no use as the Angeloid didn't even flinch.

Because of the struggle the hood finally came of and for all to see was the suffering face Miss Longueville who was turning blue and had tears running down her eyes.

Louise knew that if Ikaros kept this up she would be dead in a few minutes. But despite how much she hated her right now she couldn't bring herself to let Ikaros finish it, after all if Ikaros killed her than it would be Louise hands that would be stained with blood. She simply couldn't "Ikaros! Stop!" And everything came to halt, the power stopped to flow Ikaros lost her grip and the only thing that was left was silence as Longueville was unconscious. In the background the golem started to fall apart as his master was no longer feeding it with energy.

"Master, are you alright?" Ikaros asked softly.

"Yes I am fine Ikaros" She gave a tired sigh from herself. "Please tie Miss Longueville up so that she can't escape."

"L-Louise?" the words came from a slightly green looking Henrietta who instead of asking simply pointed at Louise left shoulder.

As she looked down she noticed the weight that was on her left side and saw that the blade that was meant for the Princess was still stuck in her shoulder and blood running down its length dripping out of the wound.

Instead of reacting in any panicked way she simply looked back at Princess Henrietta with a smile and a slight twitch in her eye said "I have been stabbed." and the last thing she saw before she blacked out was the ground approaching her face.

* * *

"This is so annoying." One of the gamma Angeloids complained "Why do we have to look through this damned forest."

The three Angeloid were currently flying over the forest, sadly the energy signature they got only gave the a radius of about fifty kilometers, they managed to rough it down to the forest but were losing hope of finding the rough Alpha as she could have easily flown away somewhere else.

They were two type gamma interceptor class Angeloids, the Harpies who stood at about one meter eighty (6 feet) and had claws instead of fingers and toes to represent their namesake.

"Just shut up and look for anything that looks like a clue." Beta retorted. She was a Electronic Warfare-Class Angeloid, Type Beta was smaller than the other Angeloids had transparent rainbow colored wings and long light blue hair.

Suddenly a blinding white light was seen in the distance that radiated for a few moments before suddenly going out.

"Does that count?" the other Harpie asked.


	8. Chapter 8

As far as I know the Harpies have no separate name other than The green-haired harpy being "Master of Torture and Pain" And the yellow-haired harpy "Master of Suffering and Torment" (WIKI) So I am going to name them Gomo and Kuru because they are shortened forms of the words Torture (Gōmon) and Suffering (Kurushimi). Your thoughts? Anyway to the story!

* * *

It's kind of funny how Angeloids despite being 'machines' in a way, picked up so many human traits, for example, walking up and down when frustrated.

Like Nymph was doing right now.

"Come one now Nymph, you make us invisible and we shoot her with Prometheus, it's not that hard." The younger of the two Harpies said. She had green hair, and that was the only thing that really distinguished her from her older sister, who had yellow hair.

"If it really is that easy, then why didn't it work when she annihilated eighty-five percent of the Synapse?!" Nymph snapped back at her. Despite it being nearly six thousand years ago, the memory was still very fresh on their minds and Gomo flinched back at the memory of nearly being hit by Apollon, she wouldn't be here if she hadn't been pulled away by her sister at the last second.

"And besides, we still have no idea what exactly she is up to!" Nymph reminded her companions. "You don't just drain the main core revealing your position, that wouldn't make any sense."

Kuru had a look of realization on her face. "Maybe she was hoping the blackout would make it fall."

Nymph gave her the most deadpan look as she answered. "The synapse is in a stable orbit around this planet, and angeloids don't need air, so please enlighten me how would that help her in any way."

The yellow-haired harpy got a timid look at that. "I was just making suggestions…."

Nymph groaned at that. "Nevermind."

"...Damn Zero! How can she have ties to the royal family?" Suddenly they heard an enraged male voice from below. "She and her stupid fake angel will pay for this, I swear!"

"Hello there, my sweet opportunity." Nymph said in a seductive voice.

"What are you planning to do now?" Gomo asked interestedly.

"Look and learn…."

* * *

Guiche was furious, it was supposed to be perfect, Louise and her familiar would walk on the stage and he would find the right moment to call them out on the heresy to get them disgraced in front of her majesty.

But no, apparently she was close friends with the princess.

"Well, hello there." Guiche was not expecting to be spoken to, it was late in the night and he knew the paths of the patrolling guards and teachers. That was how he was able to meet with his lovers at night.

He turned around and was met with… absolutely nothing.

"Eyes up, pretty boy..." So he did, and there she was. One of the most beautiful being he ever laid eyes on. She had beautiful long blue hair that was made together into twintails, she was flying above him, the twin moons illuminating her transparent wings in two colors of the moon.

"Careful with leaving your mouth so wide open, something might fly in."

Guiche quickly regained his composure and took his trademark pose. "My what a night, that gives me the honor to be in the presence of such a unworldly beauty?"

Nymph had to bring up all her effort to not cringe away at the display. "I heard you talk about an angel. The angel in mention does not, by any chance, have pink wings?" Nymph said while slowly spinning around in the air.

To a random observer, Nymph's actions would seem to be random, but the truth was far from that. She was a Warfare-Angeloid. Every move she did, no matter how tiny, served its own purpose, to let her opponents think completely what she wanted. The image she currently sending out was one of pure innocence, coupled with an underlying sense of being alien. Add to that the fact that Guiche was already a slave to the other gender… Nymph already had him completely wrapped around her finger before she even said the first word.

"Why, of course I have seen her. In fact, I see her every day, as she's constantly with one of the other students." Guiche said while holding his rose up. "But I have to ask, why are you looking for her?"

"She is a friend of mine, and I have been looking for her since a few days as she just… well, vanished." Nymph said while shrugging. "I'm her younger sister and I am worried for her." She floated closer and folded her hands together. "Can you PLEASE help me?"

"Why, of course I will help you, who am I to deny a maiden like you something like that?"He exclaimed with determination.

Guiche would never know what he had gotten himself into.

* * *

The first thing Louise noticed when she woke up, was that she was completely fine. As strange as that sounded, that should not be the case as she clearly remembered the long dagger that had gotten stuck into her shoulder.

At the memory of that, she panicked and quickly tried to sit upright, which proved itself to be a mistake as that made her experience, while very late, the pain of being stabbed.

And because Louise was a stranger to pain, her natural reaction was to curl up and start whimpering.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch,..." Her pain-induced reaction was cut short by a sudden howl of laughter that originated from the other end of the bed.

"HOW DARE YOU!" Louise screamed out in anger.

"Sorry, it's just that it has been so long since I have seen THAT reaction." Only now Louise recognized the head of Princess Henrietta's musketeers.

"Now, what is that supposed to mean?" The pinkette asked her while slowly rubbing the still hurting spot.

"Normally, when a soldier, or anyone for that matter, gets seriously injured for the first time, that can be quite the traumatic experience." Agnes said in a didactic tone. "As the Captain, it is my job to minimize that as much as possible. That and..." Agnes bowed down deep. "I have to thank you, without your brave sacrifice Princess Henrietta could very well be dead. I and the whole country of Tristram stand in your debt."

"Thank you." Louise said quietly. "But it isn't much of a sacrifice if I am still here, is it?" She said with a small smile.

"Not many would throw themselves in harm's way for someone, regardless if it is your duty or not, and that scar will never go away." The captain said while pointing at Louise's shoulder.

At that, The girl looked beneath her shirt and, indeed, there it was a very clear line that marked the spot where the knife had gone into her shoulder. "The knife went into your shoulder and slightly nicked a blood vessel before it was stopped by a bone that prevented it from exiting. The princess instantly applied healing magic, the scar could have been prevented if we had healed you more carefully but, to be honest, no one cared about that at the time."

Louise got a smile at that. "It's ok, now I can brag that I saved a princess and show the prove."

Agnes was about to say something back but was Interrupted by the door being blown off its hinges by a pink winged Angeloid. Agnes, as a reaction, instantly had her sword out and pointed at the door, but had to take a double check at what she was seeing because Ikaros already was next to Louise, on the bed, with her face not even an inch away from her.

"Ikaros!" Louise screamed out before trying to back up a bit, not that it helped as Ikaros closed in exactly as much as the poor girl backed off.

"Master, are you ok?" Closer. "How is your wound?" Closer. "Has Agnes held her promise of psychological comfort?" Too close. "Master, why is your heart rate increasing?" WAY TOO CLOSE.

"I'm sorry Louise... we tried to stop… stop her but she simply rushed out of the room." Henrietta said breathlessly while she ran in shortly after Ikaros. She was accompanied by Tabitha, Kirche, Professor Colbert and the Headmaster. Surprisingly, Henrietta was the only one who was breathing heavily.

Naturally, the first thing everybody noticed was how Louise was being pressed down by her familiar while having a beat red face.

Naturally, everyone reacted differently.

"Oho, Louise, if you wanted some alone-time with Ikaros, then you could have said so." Kirche.

"I have to agree, acts such as these should be done in private." Osmond.

"I must protest, Miss Vallière barely woke up and her body has to recover from what happened." Colbert.

"L-Louise, I-I d-didn't know you had i-interests like this, but as your f-friend I d-don't mind." Henrietta.

Tabitha only gave a short look and a thumb up.

While Louise tried, and failed, to explain the situation, Agnes was simply happy to see that her job was done for now. Founder knew she had to deal with enough soldiers that would instantly lose it when they heard the clank of metal on metal.

Despite what many believed, knights are as far from all the fame and glory as it can be, and, in many cases, the difference between a good and a bad knight is simply that the former are still sane enough to follow orders.

This girl, Louise, most likely didn't even grasp the fact that she very well could have died just a few hours ago. If she was lucky, she never would.

"Master, may I ask you a question?" All was interrupted by Ikaros, who was still on the bed, speaking up unexpectedly.

"Of course!" Louise said swiftly, she still didn't know very much about her familiar, despite having her for about three weeks, and took advantage of every opportunity she could get.

"Why did you save the Princess?" That was not the question she was expecting.

"Why? She is my friend and I didn't want her to die." Louise said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"That's what I don't understand Master. Over the past three weeks that I have been with you, I have watched and learned all I could about human behavior." Ikaros continued while her eyes turned green and started to spin. "My observations have deduced that humans, similar to wolf, form groups that are split into different positions of authority and social standing, your kind does this unconsciously, always moving to the bigger groups, females are drawn to males in higher authorities, males do everything to raise their social standing. The biggest difference that I could identify between most pack animals and humans, is that humans very often do not care for the safety of a fellow human when they are presented with the opportunity to increase their power." Many in the room, who had experience with that, flinched.

"But at the same time, I have met some humans who have absolutely nothing to gain from certain actions yet still do them to help fellow humans. That's one of the things that confuses me the most. And I was not able to subdivide between good and evil despite many claiming that it is possible. As an example, Anabel, the first grader, is what you humans refer to as 'bully' as she enforces her social standing with acts of aggression. Normally that would categorize her as the later but, despite this, she constantly helps one of her classmates doing her enchanting work using valuable time and effort, help a person whose existence she would not even recognize under other circumstances." Colbert made a mental note to look a bit closer into this Anabel person. "As such, I fail to comprehend why many of you do certain things. You are the best example for that, as without your involvement princess Henrietta would have died. But in this whole country, you are one of the people who would benefit the most from her death. Why did you save her?"

The room was silent, digesting all the information, until Louise finally cut the tension. "W-What are you saying there, Ikaros? What do I have to gain from Henrietta DYING!?" Naturally she was visibly freaked out.

"Princess Henrietta's death would make the country leaderless and unstable, to remedy that a new King or Queen would need to be chosen and there is only one close relative to the current leading bloodline: Duke de La Vallière, your father. If the orderly approach fails and the Country elects the leader by force, then the strongest mage of the country would become Monarch, and that is your mother, Karin Désirée de La Vallière, the Heavy Wind. Both outcomes would result in you being the immediate heir to the throne. Because your oldest sister is not interested in ruling, and the other one is too sick, there is a seventy-six percent chance that you would one day be Queen of Tristan."

Again, the room was silent digesting the freight train of words that they just got bombarded with. For Louise, it already was a train wreck that made her head spin as she passed out again.

"Ah, Louise are you ok?"

"Master?"

"Miss Vallière!"

After everyone calmed down, and Louise woke up again, only Henrietta, Tabitha, and Kirche were still in the room with her. The others had their own matters to attend to.

"Humans are irrational." Tabitha finally said, breaking the silence. "We do things that don't make sense, for things we don't understand, in an attempt to bring some comfort into our lives." She said, answering Ikaros questions.

"That's kind of a bleak outlook." Kirche threw in. "I just do things that I enjoy. You never know when things can get worse, so better to have fun while you can."

"A ruler sadly can't afford that kind of life." Henrietta said with her head low. "I live for Tristan, all my decisions have to be made with the country's well-being as the first priority."

Ikaros didn't say anything but turned her head to Louise, awaiting her answer.

"I just do… what I think is the right thing to do." She said struggling to find the right words.

Ikaros didn't really know what to do with that answer.

Louise, for her part, was still digesting what had happened. At first, she simply was planning how to impress the princess and teachers by making a good show. Next thing she knows the princess is dead and she is thrown back in time with her familiar only for her to end up in a hospital bed and Ikaros being slammed into a wall. Well Henrietta, was ok, and that made everything ok... for…

"Ikaros! Are you ok?" Louise was feeling horrible for forgetting how her familiar was practically slammed into a wall. Just the memory of it made her want to throw up.

"Yes master, but why are you suddenly in such a turmoil?" Ikarus asked in a surprised manner.

"You literally got slammed into the academy wall by multiple tonnes of living rock!" Louise screamed out. "Have the water mages looked at you? Are you injured somewhere?"

"It's ok master, at no point was I in any danger during the confrontation." She answered plainly

That got a twitch out of Louise's eye.

"How tough are you?" A surprised Kirche asked. "I can understand lifting a salamander but a triangle class golem is 'no danger'?"

"This body has a pressure limit of 350 kg/cm² and can lift up to 12000 kg."

...

"That… is a big amount of tough."

Suddenly the door opened and in came an irritated Agnes.

"Agnes! Have you found anything?" The Princess asked as the captain bowed down.

"The prisoner refuses to utter a single word, saying that she would only speak to you." Agnes' face got an annoyed twitch. "As if anyone would fall for such a cheap trick. She probably has some form of suicide spell up her a..."

"Agnes!" Henrietta interrupted her before she could say some unladylike words. "Thank you for informing me. I'll be with you shortly."

"Yes, your Highness. I am sorry your highness." Agnes said bowing down even deeper.

"You have to excuse Agnes, she has the mouth of a sailor if you don't keep her in check." Said captain just got a red faced at that.

"What will you do with miss Longville, princess?" Kirche asked.

"She will very likely be executed for attempted murder on royalty." Henrietta stated in a cold voice. "Am I a bad person for being glad about it?" She asked into the room.

"She tried to kill you and harmed your friend." Tabitha answered while not bothering to lift her gaze from her book. "Humans do worse for less."

Henrietta knew very well that was not an answer to her question, but a statement.

That still left the problem of what to do with said prisoner. After all, she as a princess, couldn't really risk her live like that but, on the other hand, there was a chance that the prisoner had some information that she really needed. Considering what was going on in Albion, she was almost one-hundred percent sure that the assassin had been sent from there.

Henrietta wished that she could just have some impenetrable wall between herself and her would-be-killer for the questioning. 'If I had someone like Louise's familiar that would be easy.' she thought as she looked at her friend, but she immediately wanted to look away and resisted the urge to slap herself. Her friend has just been stabbed because of her, she would not even think about making such a request after…

"We will do it!" … Wait what? "I know exactly what you were thinking just now!" Louise said pridefully with her arms crossed, "So don't try to hide it. Also, if that golem couldn't even scratch Ikaros, then I doubt that Longville will be able to do so now."

"But Louise! I must protest" Henrietta said as she stood up. "You already did way more then a friend should ever have to do for me."

Louise just gave her a flat look. "Then your definition of the word 'friend' is flawed." She said while she starting to smile. "And as such, it is my duty to educate you, we can't have a queen who doesn't understand simple definitions." Her smile got even wider as she got out of bed and moved her arm. To her satisfaction, the pain was completely nearly completely gone, ah, the wonders of magic "Ikaros!"

"Yes, Master?"

"I want you to protect Princess Henrietta de Tristram while she interrogates miss Longville, and prevent any harm that might come to her." Henrietta had a shocked face at that but that quickly morphed into her game face.

"Agnes!" She said in a commanding voice.

"Yes, your highness?"

"I want you to prevent Ikaros and Louise from exiting this room." She ordered. Agnes just looked at the two and judged them, Louise without a wand she could manage, but Ikaros? Well, she was a bit unsure about that.

Louise, meanwhile, just looked at the princess with a smile that never left her face. Henrietta, thinking herself victorious, started to leave the room despite how unnerving Louise's smile was.

She managed to make a few steps after she left the room before she heard the sound of surprise, and saw Ikaros calmly walking outside with her most trusted and strongest knight clinging to her neck in a futile attempt to prevent the angeloid from moving. But the only thing Agnes accomplished was getting dragged along.

Ikaros didn't even break a sweat and came to a halt in front of Henrietta looking down at her with those cold eyes that didn't even acknowledge the captain of the guard who was still trying to move the walking fortress. Behind her, Louise calmly left the room and gave her that look, this one very special look that Henrietta would learn to dread, that 'I have a familiar that doesn't consider a triangle-class golem as a threat and there is nothing you can do to stop me.' look.

Agnes, meanwhile, got an idea. She couldn't move Ikaros, that was for sure, but there was nothing preventing her from moving the master of said angeloid. And so, with a newfound resolve, she started to walk towards Louise, who came to the same thought after seeing the determination in Agnes' eyes.

Suddenly, a loud bang was heard and Agnes felt something holding her shoulder. She looked down and saw that it was a feminine looking hand, and, as she traced the hand back to its owner, she stared into the eyes of an angry angeloid. She wasn't so sure about her actions anymore.

Her eyes glowing green with anger, and a face set into primal rage promising the opening of the hell gates, ready to unleash eternal suffering at a moment's notice. The last time Agnes had been this scared was a long time ago.

"Your Highness, I suggest that we allow lady Louise and her familiar to accompany us. After all, you can never be too sure." Agnes said while looking at Henrietta with please-save-me eyes.

The princess just looked at the spectacle with one of her eyes twitching."You know Louise, I could count that as treason."

"I know." Louise answered without missing a beat, leaving the 'but you won't' unsaid.

Kirche and Tabitha just watched the spectacle from the side, Kirche barely managing not to break into maniacal laughter after watching little Louse completely outplaying her own monarch. Even Tabitha had to hide her own smirk behind a book as she watched a silently-cursing princess leaving, tailed by her captain, Louise and Ikaros.

* * *

Louise didn't even know that the school had a dungeon, much less did she expect it to be exactly like she imagined it. Everything that was made of metal was rusty, every piece of wood was brittle, and it smelled like the place hadn't gotten cleaned in the last century.

The way to the cell holding Longville was not very long, it was, after all only a very small dungeon. She had chains binding her legs together, shackles that chained her to the wall, and her clothing had been reduced to a plain white sheet. The knights had searched her very thoroughly.

"Funny, I didn't actually expect you to come." She said lifting her head slightly. "And you brought friends."

Henrietta flinched slightly from her place behind Ikaros. "You asked for me. Now, speak." She said in the best authoritative voice she could muster.

"Yes, I asked for you to make you a deal." Longville said while standing up.

"A deal? You are not in the position to make a deal with me. " The princess retorted. "If you are planning to buy your freedom, then you are wasting my."

"Information on who wants you dead, and about a traitor in your ranks." Longueville said with a smile on her face. "In return, I want you to kill me right here and now and spread the word that Fouquet the Crumbling Dirt died in the attempt to kill princess Henrietta. You have twelve hours to decide."


	9. Chapter 9

Henrietta didn't have a choice, this was a conclusion that she came to realize more since she accepted the crown, she may not be officially crowned yet but that was the only reason she was not called Queen Henrietta yet.

In the end, it was the best choice to make, if you really call it a choice at all, that is.

She would kill her would-be assassin to gain information. While the credibility of the information could be questioned, Henrietta did spend endless amounts of hours learning how to properly rule a country, and distinguish truth from lie was a big part of that training. That way she was sure that she would, at least, get some information. Even finding out who they try to set her up against would be a big help in finding the true culprit.

It made her shiver that she could think about things like that so easily. Assassination was something that she was trained in. Of course, not the act itself but when and where it was 'necessary' and 'for the good of Tristain'. After all, every problem was solvable, even if through gold that was exchanged for blood.

When Henrietta first started to attend royal duties she swore herself that she would stay clean of such paths but now, after ruling for nearly two years and nearly having her own life taken, that oath seemed to get more childish by the day.

It should be harder to simply decide about a human life even if Longville already forfeit her live the second she failed.

Henrietta was disgusted at herself that she took the deal mere seconds after it was offered, even if it made no sense to not do so. She wondered if that made her more human or less.

"I accept." Funny, even when she admitted that she was glad to have her assailant gone for good, she still felt conflicted when saying the words. They simply rolled off her tongue way too easily.

Louise, who was still next to her, flinched slightly.

At what, she didn't want know. Maybe there was the chance that it was because she finally realized that her friend had agreed to kill someone. Just. Like. That.

"Good." Longville just accepted with the cipher attitude of a merchant who just made a business deal. "To make this short, I was contracted by an organisation called Reconquista, I don't think I need to tell you much about them."

"Refresh my memory." She knew very well about the Reconquista but what she did want to know was the difference between her own knowledge and Longueville.

"Reconquista, a group of nobles that are planning to united Halkegenia and invade the Elves to retake the holy land. The leader is a man named Oliver Cromwell. They are currently taking over Albion." Not much of a difference between what they knew. "Anyway that is not the funny part, the next bit of info will be way more juicy for you." She said with a smirk. "The agent they send after me was named Viscount Wardes, ring any bells?"

Louise could only stare in shock and, while Henrietta had her emotion hidden way better, she still was somewhat shocked at the accusation, especially since she didn't detect even a hint of a lie. "I have a question, Miss Longueville." She decided to ask. "What do you get out of telling us things like that?" That should give some more understanding.

"Revenge." Came the short answer. As Henrietta only raised an eyebrow at that she chose to elaborate. "I am a thief, not an assassin. I only did this because they have someone I treasure at knife point. Now that I failed, they will either kill her or simply not bother with her." After a short while, her expression became an exhausted one she added "I simply want to see them burn. If I helped in that, all the better."

Not a single lie as far as Henrietta was able to tell. That was saddening in a way, after all this was just another misguided soul that she couldn't help if she had any idea how to reach the person that Longville holds so dear then maybe...

It was just wishful thinking at this point. "Now hold your end of the deal, or has the word of a 'noble' lost all its value at last?" The way she practically spat the word and the accusation made Louise really angry but she held herself back when she realized that those were probably the last few words that she would ever speak.

Henrietta simply took Louise's hand and gave a signal to Agness

Louise didn't protest as she was dragged along and Ikaros simply followed silently, if not for her appearance one could even forget she was there.

Only after the door closed behind them Henrietta let go. She turned to her best friend and asked "It's really strange, isn't it? We get raised by parents who do their best to protect us from evil but the thing that finally made me feel like an adult myself was the realization that there is no such thing as true evil."

Louise thought on that for a moment before asking "Then why do we fight each other?"

* * *

A few days passed after the attempted assassination attempt and talk about it quickly faded away. The only thing that would remain of it where memories and a lone stone marking the last resting place of a women who would soon be forgotten.

Louise, for her part never got her question truly answered but she didn't need even need Henrietta's sad smile to understand that no one would be able to answer that question.

"Master? Why are you sad?" Came Ikaros' unexpected question. They were alone in Tabitha's room, who was gone out to take care of Sylphid.

"That's a stupid question, how can I not be after what happened?" Louise said, not bothering to move from her position on the bed.

"It doesn't make sense, master. Over the last few days, I went over possible scenarios on how the confrontation with Longville could have gone." Ikaros explained in all her monotone glory. "In 76% of the confrontations some who you value would have died, the other 24% would end in either Longueville's death or imprisonment and following execution. There was no way to save her, and princess Henrietta was the better choice when incorporating all available variables. So, why are you sad when you made the right choice?" Ikaros asked with finality.

Louise let the words run through her mind. Three days ago she would have simply screamed at Ikaros, swearing that she was honored to help the princess and was feeling perfectly fine.

It's funny how big of a difference a few days could make.

Not to mention that, now that she thought about it, Ikaros was right. There was nothing she could have done. Ikaros' time power was disabled, so no going back. But, even so, just catching Longville would have changed nothing.

Attempted assault on royalty equals death and, as such, the result would have been the same.

"Master?" Ikaros leaned over Louise's face, expecting some answers.

"You're right, it makes no sense at all. Why do I feel bad about this when she was an enemy?" Louise thought about it some more. "Maybe it's because she had no choice. After all, she simply tried to protect someone."

"Is a life really that valuable?" Ikaros asked back.

"Yes, it's more valuable than anything." Louise said thinking about her older sister. "Because you never know when it ends."

Ikaros thought on this before answering. "I don't really understand what is so precious about life, or why humans try to preserve it so badly, but if it's what my master values, then I will protect it."

Louise smiled at that. "For now, that will be enough."

The moment was interrupted by Tabitha entering the room with a letter in her hand. "Louise, I need to talk to you." She stated.

"About what?" Louise asked back.

"You'll need to move back to your room for a while." That statement stung and made Louise happy at the same time. For one, Tabitha knew that she was postponed her departure from her room and had no problem with her company, but also meant that she needed to end the fun they had.

"Ah, so you noticed." Tabitha noded. "Well, sorry for using you for so long then." Louise said meekly. Tabitha replied with a book to Louise's head. "Ouch!"

"I'm leaving the academy for a while." Tabitha explained while Louise rubbed her sore head. "I'm not throwing you out."

"Oh." Now Louise was blushing. "S-Sorry, I-I was just..." Again, Louise was silenced by the book, this time a bit more softly.

Tabitha went to her nightstand and put the letter into the drawer. "I have a mission from the Galian King, after I finish it, we can go back to pretend I'm your stuffed plush." Louise went even more redder.

Tabitha was enjoying teasing her new friend. She never knew that she had that kind of side but that was hard to test when your company consisted of someone like Kirche.

"What kind of mission?" Louise asked trying to get over her embarrassment. "Maybe I can help you! After all, you helped me so much over the course of this last few days that it would stain my honor as a Vallière to, at least, not offer my help!"

She simply explained. "The water spirit of the Lagdorian lake is flooding the surrounding area, and my mission is to stop it."

Louise simply stared blankly at her."You are off to stop a water spirit?" Then she did a double take. "ON YOUR OWN!?" At that point she was in Tabitha's face. "Do you have any idea how dangerous spirits can be?!" She now was shaking Tabitha, who was probably the only person who Louise could do this with.

"I intend to do some research before my departure, and I'll not be alone. Kirche will very likely accompany me." Louise now was torn between being happy that her friend was not alone, and anger at who the friend was.

"I'll come with you." Louise said resolutely.

Tabitha thought of refusing, considering that it was her own duty. But then remember that she already revealed that Kirche would come with her anyway, as she always does. Then she thought about how Louise would be left behind in studies, then she remembered that Louise was on the top in the theoretical parts. After that she thought about arguing that she didn't really do anything, then she remembered that she helped to stop the attack of a giant golem, wich included saving the princess of Tristain. She tried to think about any other argument, but all of them instantly fell apart when she remembers how she practically forced said princess to comply with her wishes.

At that point, she gave up trying to find a way of stopping Louise and simply agreed.

Unknown to all but Ikaros, who simply didn't care, they weren't alone. Outside of the door, Guiche was listened and smiled, before promptly running off with joy in his steps.

* * *

"My fair angel!" Guiche said. "I bring news to you."

Right behind him, Nymph appeared. He would never admit that it spooked him a bit.

"Really?" She asked with a faked childish joy. "What kind of news?"

"In a few day Louise and her stolen angel will leave the academy with a few friends on a mission." Guiche flashed a smile. "They will be alone and you'll have the perfect opportunity to get your friend back."

"Really? This is perfect!" Nymph said while turning around.

"I am gladly of being of help to you, my angel!" Guiche said while bowing.

Nymph turned around with a confused look on her face. "Why…?" She turned around and walked again. "Dispose of the insect."

Then he saw a flash. Two bodies, one yellow, the other green. Then he felt sharp pain. Then nothing.

* * *

_Two days later_

Louise, Tabitha, Kirche and their familiars all met up at dawn and readied themselves for the journey. The humans were riding on Sylphid's back while Ikaros carried Flame, who made his displeasure known by not staying still for even a second. Not that Ikaros cared about that, as she was holding him like a giant plush toy without showing any sign of strain.

Kirche was looking apologetic towards him while saying, "Sorry Flame, I know you don't like her very much, but it's either that or you staying behind." Flame calmed down a bit at that.

With that, they took to the skies with Tabitha up front and Louise sandwiched between her and Kirche.

"So, do you all know the plan?" Louise asked while throwing a pointed look at Kirche.

"Come on now, Louise. I have been in more missions with Tabitha then you." Kirche threw back.

"And I'm still questioning how you are both alive." Louise replied. "Maybe you pulled all the attention at you, leaving Tabitha free to get something actually done. Beyond that, I can't imagine you doing anything besides setting things on fire."

"Aw, what's wrong Zero? Are you jealous that I am not 'distracting' you?" She said while poking Louise in the cheek.

Louise had the most deadpan look on her face that history ever recorded while answering. "If we weren't this high up, I would throw you off right now." Then she developed a smirk. "Also, I didn't hear you denying it."

Kirche was going to respond with something slutty and witty, but then remembered that actually held some true for all the little adventures she had with Tabitha."That's because I wasn't."

Tabitha, for her part, was enjoying having the company even when they were a tiny bit annoying. Suddenly, her thoughts were interrupted by her dragons uneasiness. "What's wrong Sylphid?" She asked, mentally kicking herself because she remembered she had ordered Sylphid not to talk back when with company.

Any answer the dragon might have given, was drowned out when she suddenly did a sharp dive to the side to avoid a magical beam. Instantly, all her senses were fully alert and searching the sky for their aggressor. "Ikaros!" She heard Louise crying out and her eyes instantly went to where she was expecting the angel to be flying, only to see her falling with Flame still in her arms and with a hole in her left wing. That was when she realized that they weren't the main targets of that attack.

To everyone's surprise, Ikaros reacted to Louise's scream and adjusted her flight path just enough to dodge the following attack. Tabitha looked where the attack was coming from and spotted three shapes in the sky. Her pupils narrowed to the size of pins as she saw the unmistakable form of angeloids with two of them holding what looked like cannons.

"Gomo, you idiot! I told you to aim for her center of mass!" The short-haired one said.

"It's not that easy to aim that thing at something so small." The now named Gomo responded while pouting. "Why do you always have to be so angry Nymph?"

"Because I'm surrounded by airheads like you who can't even calculate the millionth decimal of ?!" The blue haired one screamed.

"Will you two shut up? We're fighting right now, if you didn't notice." The yet unnamed yellow haired one screamed at the other two.

For Tabitha, it was just enough time to finish an icicle storm spell and launch it at them.

They didn't even bother dodging as the cold daggers shattered uselessly against their bodies. "So what, Kuru? Are you saying that we can actually lose this against a broken model and a few bugs?" Or even acknowledging that they were under attack, for the matter.

"You always think yourself so much superior, beta." Said the now named Kuru. "Just shut up, we can argue when we finish business here." With that said, all 3 of them turned their gaze to them.

"What do you want?" Louise screamed at them. "What reason do you have to attack us?!"

"Don't take it personally pinky, just doing our jobs." Gomo said cheerfully before aiming her arm-gun again and firing with a smile on her face.

The beam pierced the air where Louise's head had been just a second ago. "Master, are you alright?" Ikaros asked Louise who was now secure in the arms of her familiar, with flame deposited on Sylphids back.

"Ikaros, your wing!" Louise was close to tears as she looked at the gaping hole in it.

"It's ok master, this damage only incapacitates my flying capability by 2%." Ikaros replied not even batting an eyelash.

"But that has to hurt." Louise retorted thinking about the aftereffects of the stab wound she received. "How do you still fly without even flinching."

While that was going on, the angeloids had another debate. "Oy, Nymph give me an analysis on what the hell just happened." Kuru asked her companion.

"Nearly mach one speed under 0,12 seconds with unhindered maneuverability." Nymph replied with one eye twitching. "And no, your sensors are alright, I just checked them."

"We only have one angeloid in the database that can match that, and she isn't even finished yet! How the hell can a model that wasn't upgraded for six-thousand years be that fast and maneuverable?" The green haired one asked back.

"No idea, but so far we still haven't seen any real offensive capability. So, yes, she's fast but we still have the clear advantage."

"This sucks, why didn't master give us her data files for the mission?" Gomo said, inserting herself into the conversation.

"Something about a risk to our systems that includes the reason why she went insane." Nymph responded.

Tabitha and Kirche landed while that was going on, as Tabitha had decided that they were hopelessly outclassed in the sky. Ikaros landed next to them.

"What's your objective?" Tabitha asked the trio repeating Louise's question. Normally, she would never be heard at the distance, but that was no problem with the hearing of the angeloids who decided to also land on the ground.

"Are we really holding a conversation with bugs?" Nymph asked her companions.

Gomo turned her head to her with a sly smile."Are you really the one to talk after you charmed the blonde that badly?"

"Shut it, that was a necessary sacrifice for information." Nymph restored with an angry snarl.

"What do you mean with blonde, are you talking about Guiche?" Kirche asked.

"Yea, I think that was his name." Gomo laughed out as if someone just told her a joke. "You should have seen how quickly betrayed a fellow human, and Nymph just had to ask him." At this point, she was roaring with Laughter.

"That bastard selling his fellow noble out like that." Louise said through her teeth.

"Well you won't have to worry about him anymore." Gomo said keeping her smile. "He loved angels so much we sent him to them."

"Enough of that!" Kuru screamed out while pointing her weapon at them. "We're here to take the missing alpha angeloid with the designation _Ikaros _with us, and seeing that she has found herself a new master, also to eliminate said master." Her eyes narrowed "Surrender and make this easier for us."

"Never!" Louise screamed out while pointing her wand at them in rage.

No one expected the massive explosion that shook the entire forest and obscured everyone's vision. Tabitha used that chance to pull Kirche and Louise towards her and spoke quickly. "Retreat! They are after Louise and Ikaros. She's wounded. Sylphid, take Kirche with you and fly after them, you have better offense than I do. I'll stay and stag them. We will meet up at the academy in the evening, shake them of and prevent direct confrontation"

Louise looked at her in panic."That is suicide! They sweated away your icicles like it was nothing and will do the same to you!"

"Trust me, this isn't the first time I've deal with things stronger than me."

"But..." Louise was about to retort something else, but Tabitha interrupted her.

"Ikaros, they want to kill your master. Take her and fly away or she will die." That got to the angeloid as she took Louise into a hug from behind and, with a sonic boom, was gone with Kirche going right behind her on Sylphid's back. That didn't go unnoticed by the other party and, with a strong flap of many wings, the smoke was cleared.

"I WILL RIP YOU INTO BLOODY PIECES YOU FUCKING BITCH!" Nymph screamed out in anger, her face and body covered in dirt. The other angeloids were in similar shape, but were physically stronger than her and soon took to the air with two similar booms.

Nymph was about to take off after them but those precious six seconds that she needed to curse was what, at the end, cost her right wing.

Tabitha, for her part, couldn't quite believe the damage she had caused, after all, all what she did was encasing the wing in a solid block of ice that she anchor into the ground. It was Nymphs' own carelessness at not noticing that what produced enough force to rip it off.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" She screamed, feeling pain such as she had never known. To her misfortune her companions were already many Kilometers out so no one heard her except for the blue haired mage.

Absolute and primal rage was in Nymphs eyes when she stood up and for the first time after so long, Tabitha feared for her live.

* * *

Many kilometers out, Sylphid was having a huge trouble keeping up with Ikaros. Naturally this hurt her pride badly considering that she was supposed to be one of the fastest things in the sky and the angeloid has a hole in her wing.

Suddenly there was a gust of wind and Kirche and Sylphid saw two of the angeloids rush past them. "That is just not fair!" Kirche screamed out and Sylphid agreed.

* * *

Louise couldn't believe the speed she was going at. The world was rushing past her so quickly that that the only thing her eyes could see was a blur that made her quite dizi in the head. Another oddity she noticed was that she wasn't feeling the wind on her skin. It made her felt quiet strange.

"I am detecting a high energy radiation, and metallic echoes, coming from the magnetic north." Ikaros suddenly said, green eyes spinning. "Calculations say that we have a high chance of losing our pursuers due to the effects it'll have on their sensors. Changing curse."

With that, she did a sharp turn and Louise world started spinning. When she looked forward again, she had to question her sanity, because right in front of her was the floating Island of Albion. It was at least one hour away from Tristain even when flying nonstop on a wind dragon, and Ikaros was rushing right at it.

It took only a few minutes to reach it but, to Louise shock, they didn't go up but under the country. That was also the first time Louise noticed the energy beams that were rushing past them as they impacted the rocky mass in front of them.

She looked back and, to her horror, she saw the two Angeloids in hot pursuit. Suddenly, the world around Louise went dark and, as she looked up, she only saw the shadows of Albion's underside. For a short moment she wondered if anyone had ever seen the country from that angle.

"Master, I suggest using your explosives on the rocks above us." Ikaros said as she started to gain attitude and closed the distance between herself and the country. "It should further distract them from reaching us." Another turn followed by a dodge to evade more incoming shots.

Louise, shakily, pulled out her wand and aimed it upwards as the spiky formations began to get visible over the bottom and, for a second, Louise feared that they would impale themselves.

"Now." Ikaros said tearing Louise back into reality.

"Fireball!" Louise screamed out and, as expected, an explosion created a dust cloud. Ikaros flew right through it.

Louise risked a look forward. She shouldn't have, because the spikes were rushing past her at such a speed that it filled her with a whole new sense of terror. "Master, I suggest you continue firing upwards." Ikaros said and Louise complied.

"Fireball! Fireball! Fireball!" One after another, dust, rocks, and other things fell from the giant island. Another blast of energy flew past her and Louise doubled her efforts, this time pointing backwards.

It seemed to be working as the number of beams fired at them seemed to lessen.

Suddenly, Ikaros abruptly stopped and for a fraction of a second Louise world seemed to stand still, as she found herself barely two meters away from the yellow-haired angeloid who had the gun pointed at her face. Louise, at the same time, had her wand pointed at the angeloid.

When the word resumed its course, it did it with smoke, darkness and thunder

Another second later Ikaros was again flying at top speed with Louise barely staying conscious.

* * *

"Damn it!" Gomo screamed out as she cleared the smoke. "I can't detect them, my sensors are all messed up."

"Hey, sister?" Kuru asked. "The Prometheus guns are built to withstand a force equals to double of the one that they fire, right?"

"Yes, why are you ask..." Gomo's voice drifted off as she saw the broken and shredded remains of her sister's Prometheus cannon. "What in the master's name?"

* * *

"Are we still alive?" Louise said as Ikaros let her down after the most adrenaline-filled flight she ever had. "We are alive!"

"That is correct master." However Louise didn't hear her because her knees gave in and she emptied her stomach on Albionesse soil. "Master, are you alright?"

After a well-deserved break, Louise was feeling well enough to travel again, but had Ikaros swear to not go at that high speed.

When they reached the academy and Tabitha's room half an hour later, Louise's heart leaped with joy at seeing her friends uninjured and just sitting there. "Tabitha! Are you ok, they didn't hurt you, did they?" She asked while hugging her blue-haired friend.

"I am uninjured. And you?" Tabitha asked back.

"A bit shaken but, otherwise, ok" Louise threw a worried look back. "Ikaros still has a hole in her wing, but she said that it will be fine."

"Is no one concerned about me?" Kirche threw in.

"When you can complain, then that means you are fine." Louise threw back. "How did you escape? Those two hunted us to the bottom of Albion before we lost them."

"It is a bit of a long story." Tabitha said averting her eyes. "I will tell you tomorrow. I am really tired, do you mind if I have the room for myself tonight?"

"Of course not." Louise said. "But tomorrow we need to talk about what in the founder's name happened today."

"I second that." Kirche said. "I mean, they made pretty clear what they wanted, but, why and who were they?" She said as she started to leave the room. "Good night Tabitha."

"Good night." Louise said leaving the room.

"Good night." The bluenette answered softly.

After Kirche and Louise left, the room felt in silence. A strange thing considering how loud her life had been lately. She walked to her bed and let herself drop onto it, her staff still in an iron grip.

"My, my." The air around Tabitha began to bend in a strange way. "How naughty!" A shape that was slightly larger than Tabitha began to appear around her. "Lying to your friends like that." A fully visible Nymph had her arms and legs gripping Tabitha as she whispered into her ear. "My Master."

* * *

A/N: Hello guys, just a short notice that I am looking for more editors. Please pm me if interested. Also check out my new story Ouroboros, it is a project between me and Poliamida. A Familiar of Zero with a whole new twist! Go read, it I command it!


	10. Chapter 10

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" She screamed, feeling pain such as she had never known. To her misfortune, her companions were already many kilometers out so no one heard her except for the blue haired mage.

Absolute and primal rage was in Nymph's eyes when she stood up, and for the first time after so long, Tabitha feared for her life.

"Paradise Song!" Nymph screamed out with an opened mouth, turning everything in front of her into ashes.

Only years of peril managed to save Tabitha from being obliterated as she jumped out of the way.

This thing was very likely beyond anything that she has ever faced. She didn't even dare to call her girl, right now for she was looking at a very angry celestial creature.

Tabitha was suddenly regretting her decision very badly, as the feeling of dread manifested. She slapped herself on the face to get back into focus, and she noticed the path of absolute destruction and fire that was left by the angeloid's attack.

Now that she thought about it, why wasn't there another attack following?

"...my beautiful wing, how am I supposed to get back to synapse now? It takes so much work to repair that kind of damage!" The answer was currently holding her ripped out appendage, half raging and half crying about it. What was truly frightening about it was that the ice that had encased the wing had been carelessly ripped apart with fingermarks clear on it.

Tabitha couldn't allow herself to waste any more time, any advantage she could get was one that she had to use no matter the cost. It was good that Sylphid was off with Kirche, she thought, before she started her incantation. She did so as quietly as possible to not make her enemy remember her presence.

After she finished, a great ice lance formed in the air and rushed towards the unsuspecting angeloid.

It seemed that the angeloid had truly forgotten about her.

Nymph, who didn't see that attack coming, would have been speared through if she wasn't an angeloid. While she was the absolute weakest in terms of direct combat she was still sturdier than any mortal. As such, the lance impacted her side and dragged her along, ripping her off her feet before hitting the ground.

Tabitha's brief moment of hope was shattered along with her ice attack.

Again she was reminded that she was not facing anything a human has ever truly fought, this was represented by the fact that Nymph was not reacting like someone that had been attacked. In fact, she just got up, confusion visible on her face for a brief moment as she stared around the clearing in puzzlement. It was as if she didn't know what had happened to her. Though, when her eyes fell on Tabitha, it was as if a switch just clicked in her mind, realizing that the attack had came from the girl.

Nymph, for her part, was on the strangest sea of emotions she has ever been in. First, she got her wing ripped off by what she thought was a trap of the renegade angeloid, and in rage blasted the closest thing to her. Then, when she went and started to work on ways to get her wing back on, then she was attacked. The attack felt weird, with that solid piece of condensed water encapsulated by energy being launched at her, even it had no real effect beyond denting her. When she got up and started scanning for the attacker she got confused, yet again, because her scans, the best ever created by Synapse, showed no hostile lock on. With no viable data, she started calculating the path of the projectile and, to her surprise, she found its point of origin in one of the remaining bugs.

Nymph was angry. This rotten, dirty, ugly, flawed, thing that was more insignificant than the dirt beneath her, actually managed to dent her, rip out her wing and make a mockery of an angeloid out of her. It would have been hilarious how this ant managed to do so, despite its own worthlessness, if this had happened to anyone but herself.

Tabitha, for her part, was rushing the completion of multiple spells, the backbone of her plan. It would save or end her. Upon finishing, a great icy wind picked up. Nymph, while extremely prideful, was not stupid. Realizing the sharp drop in temperature, she started calculating possible scenarios that were likely to occur. Nymph didn't like to admit it but currently she had no idea what to expect from this human, as she was built to combat electrical systems and angeloids, not something as primitive as this. She didn't have time for many guesses as the answer hit her in the face in the form of a great water stream. She tried to move but, to her annoyance, she found that as soon as the water hit her it was frozen solid.

The blue haired mage was exhausted, three high level spells, in rapid succession, and without an elemental source, were very draining. But she did it. The angeloid was frozen solid in multiple tons of ice with her mouth open and surprise written on her face.

Tabitha took a breath of relief realizing that it actually worked. Only in the last moment she saw the glow from within the frozen structure and threw herself to the side.

"You are annoying me, you insect!" Nymph screamed out. Tabitha got up again, or at least she tried. When she attempted to use her left hand as support she found that, strangely enough, it wasn't following her command. She looked to the left and her breathing stopped.

She no longer had an arm there. There was only a stump left, right above the elbow, and at the sight of the horrifying bloody injury belonging to her, she let out a rather loud screech.

Nymph, at first, was surprised at the reaction. Then she remembered that humans couldn't block out the signals reaching their brain. She found that hilarious and burst out laughing. "Hahaha, serves you right." She smirked as she calmly walked towards the downed Tabitha who had tears streaming down her face. Pain and panic etching her face with their agonizing features. "Dumb little bug, thought that you could take on a angeloid? You know what? This gives me an idea as punishment. I'll rip out all of your limbs, and because I am so kind, I will let you try escaping after that." Nymph said with a grin on her face and a sadistic glint shone in her eyes.

And just as she was about to reach for Tabitha, the mage shouted out the last part of a spell that formed another ice lance that rushed forwards. This one enhanced with nearly all the willpower she had left. Nymph calculated the path of the lance with extreme precision and, to her satisfaction, she didn't even need to move as the projectile rushed next to her. "Look at you, so weak and useless you can't even aim." She was about to taunt her more when all of her sensors began to scream that something was so terribly wrong.

Just as she turned around to look at the spear, Tabitha finished her final spell. It was nothing more than a simple levitation on herself. Nymph had a fast mind but when she realized Tabitha's plan it was already too late. The ice lance impacted her chain, for while she was frozen in the block of ice her chain was frozen as well next to her, extending from her neck and, thereby, visible. The lance hit the target spot on and the chain was ripped in half. And, during this eventful moment, Tabitha shot forward, just as she let go of her staff mid flight and grabbed the piece of chain that was still connected to Nymph. The chain, trying to establish the connection again, did the only thing that it could and connected with the first suitable thing it could find, this being Tabitha.

_-Imprinting-_

Tabitha, not having her staff anymore, impacted the ground after her short flight and rolled a few meters before coming to a full stop, breathing heavily with pain over her lost arm still written on her face. Besides herself, there was no sound to be heard, as it was all silent. The animals had fled away at the first sign of the fight and Nymph, who just moment ago had been gloating about the sadistic things she would do to this insect, had her world crumbling into dust as she came to the realization that the bug was now no one else than her master. Bound by the chain, she had to obey her every command.

She collapsed on her knees. If angeloids could sleep she would think this was a really bad dream but, with every second that passed, the link became more and more obvious as she now could feel every emotion that her master was feeling, could see the exact damage that she had dealt to her over the scans that the chain was sending to her, and with a heavy heart she realized that she now had to heal her master. Heal the very wounds that she dealt her.

Tabitha, despite her missing arm, despite the pain, and despite the odds being so heavily against her, had the chain tight around her hand. The very chain that bound the angeloid to her will, if Ikaros' words were to be believed. Well time to test that out. Before she could utter a word she found that Nymph was already standing above her, a mixture of emotions written on her face that Tabitha couldn't recognize.

At first, she feared that the chain might not be working for her, but then the angeloid spoke in a soft voice. "Please lay on your back master, I need to treat your wounds." Tabitha was never so relieved in her life and, with exhaustion and the last of her strength, she turned from her side to her back.

Nymph immediately went to work, as she tapped her finger on Tabitha's head to prevent pain from reaching her brain. The ripped-out arm was no problem for now as the heat had instantly cauterized the wound so she proceeded to mend a broken rib and several brushings with a touch and several nanomachines. After that she could focus on the severed limb. Nymph was nowhere close to the skill that Oregano angeloids had, but she had other tricks. She started to command her nanobots to drain the ground around for materials and started constructing a robotic limb after her own blueprint, with alterations to match the human physique.

Tabitha flinched when the previously hostile Nymph touched her head but, no matter what, she had already resigned to her fate. Either it worked and the angeloid healed her, or kill her and that would be the end of it. Her internal musing was disrupted when she felt a very strange sensation, the pain that she previously was feeling was gone and was replaced by a strange slimy feeling all over her body and even inside of it. She looked up, wondering what was going on, and, to her shock, saw how the angeloid was holding something that looked exactly like an arm. It floated in a glowing field, twisting and turning while it seemed to grow and take more and more shape. The strange glow around it seemed to stretch out far away and Tabitha could only watch in morbid fascination as the metallic copy of a limb started to twitch and move.

Nymph's mind was in a strange mix of confusion while she was working on the limb. On one end she was now bound to a new master, enslaved beyond her control, but on the other hand every instinct was screaming at her to obey her new master's every wish. It was way beyond strange as a few minutes ago all she wanted was to eradicate this bu-Her Master.

After being happy with the limb, Nymph put a few finishing touches to it, like applying a synthetic skin to make it look exactly like a real limb. Now to attaching it. Considering human tolerance for pain, and that every emotion was fed back to her to some extent, she was not looking forward to it, to say the least. "Master, I will now attach this new arm to you." And in response, Tabitha simply stared at her in what she interpreted as fear and a great amount of uncertainty.

Would telling her that it would hurt make it better? "The process will hurt immensely master, please prepare for the pain." Nymph had to suppress a flinch at the immense amount of fear that suddenly rushed to her. Additionally, she made a quick note that informing her new master of coming pain was a bad idea. Well no reason to waste time, and the longer she waited the more complications could occur. Having nearly all databases saved was practical, and the other mocked her for it, Ha! Now look who is laughing! Wait wasn't she supposed to serve someone else? Yes, she was a angeloid that was in the service of the synapse under the master of the Synapse Minos!

Why did that seem so unimportant? Yes, that was right, it wasn't important. Right now she had to attach the arm that her master had lost in the previous fight.

Nymph removed the pain blockers. as all influence on the nerves could lead to more harm. That said, the reattaching was going to be complicated as the pain was already pulsating into the link and, by extension, into her being, causing great distraction. She pulled all available subsystems into her own pain suppression and started by fixating the stump under her knee to prevent further movement, and activated the limb as several needles and tubes shot from the arm. The sight of them created a whole nother level of panic in her master. Strange, wasn't pain a reward? Where humans so emotionally different?

Regardless, the procedure had to be done. Nymph positioned the arm and the mechanisms started to attach itself, first creating a firm hold on the stump and then started removing the burned flesh. That was when her master screamed and, despite having nearly 30% of her system dedicated to pain repression, she still felt it. Ironically she was holding her promise of dealing pain to her master by reattaching limbs instead of ripping them ooooouuuuuuu…$ghj&amp;/(UIK. Her systems started to glitch when the limbs started to insert the mechanical nerves into the biological ones. Nymph took a deep breath and focused 56% of all her power on the pain repression, forcing her to switch off several of her other functions. She had no problem with the loss of her sound receptors as the screaming was getting annoying.

Despite over half of her power and processing units being focused on the pain, she easily held her thrashing and screaming master in place as the attachment process continued for a few minutes. When it finally finished, her master lost consciousness, but not before a strange sense of satisfaction rushed over the link.

So there was joy from the pain after all? So confusing.

Nymph tucked that piece of data away for another time. Now it was time to sort her thoughts out of this mess. Just a few minutes ago she wanted to destroy the unconscious human in front of her and now this human has somehow managed to rip off her chain and re-attach it to herself, and with that she was now Nymph's new master. The chain determined who the angeloid was serving, this was an absolute truth that no angeloid was able to resist. No matter what her opinion of the human was previously, it didn't matter anymore.

That said, what was about her previous orders? Find type Alpha angeloid that had escaped confinement and bring her back to the Synapse. If that failed, destroy her.

Now that she thought about it, how come the Alpha type could fall in the first place? And why was she kept prisoner instead of being destroyed? So many questions that Nymph had never considered before. Regardless, right now she was serving her new master and she needed orders. Time to wake her up.

With a simple tap on the head the deed was done and Tabitha was fully awake. The things that happened after the fight where blurry, she had a hard time recalling them, she remembered being so afraid, and that she lost a arm… Her arm! With that thought she quickly spun around and grabbed her left arm with her hand, she breathed in relief when she found out that the arm was still exactly where it should be.

"Is the replacement limb not to your satisfaction, master?" Her poor heart nearly jumped out of her chest when she turned towards the voice, and found the source of her pain speaking to her. She crawled away in panic trying to find her staff with her hands. Nymph, during that, got an uncomfortable shiver up her spine.

For Tabitha, Nymph's words were confusing at best, when she finally was at enough distance away and had her staff in her grasp, she actually felt safe enough to react to them. She looked down at her hand again. inspecting it from every possible angle. She found nothing out of the ordinary until she decided to look further up and, to her ever-growing horror, she found a line where her skin went a bit brighter than on the rest of her body. She paled and in an instant everything rushed back at her. She barely held her food back from coming back up.

She breathed heavily for a few more minutes before finally coming to the conclusion that, yes, she was awake and, yes, her plan had worked.

At the last realization she broke out in laughter. It had worked! Despite all odds, and her gambling everything on one tiny piece of information that she got from Ikaros, it had worked! Granted, she paid with her arm, but right now she was closer than ever to beating Joseph and healing her mother! She turned back to the, no, to HER angeloid, and for the first time in many years, she smiled. Nymph didn't know why but she suddenly felt very uncomfortable.

With newfound strength, Tabitha stood up. She had her calculating gaze back on her face. "I am your master and you will follow every order I give you." This was a statement, not a question.

"Yes, that is correct master. Whatever order you give me, I will follow." Nymph said in reply, while going into a kneeling position.

"Question. What exactly are you?" Tabitha wanted to find out as much as possible about her new asset. Information was power, after all.

"I am Electronic Warfare angeloid Type Beta, designation Nymph." She said from her kneeling position with a mechanical voice."I am under the command of Charlotte Hélène d'Orléans who is currently under the designation 'Tabitha'."

Tabitha twitched at the mention of her birth name. "How did you get this information about me?" She asked cautiously.

"The imprinting allows me to access information about you." Nymph returned.

"How much information?" She asked back sharply.

"I can only access the information you allow me access to."

"You are forbidden from accessing information about me until further notice." Tabitha ordered briefly.

Nymph, in return, looked up with confusion and a bit of fear in her eyes."But, master you are constantly sending me information." She said in an unsure voice.

Tabitha narrowed her eyes at that, upon which Nymph flinched and bowed her head back down. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"The imprinting is currently sending me information about your body, thoughts, and emotions." She answered briefly.

Tabitha thought about the implications of that. After that she thought '_Does that mean that you can read my thoughts?'_

"Yes master." Nymph answered.

Tabatha tucked that information away for later before thinking about more things she could ask.

"My main functions are infiltration, electronic warfare and entertainment." Nymph started to explain the moment Tabitha formed the thought. "Centered on those functions I have several abilities. My paradise song being my main offensive option. The main ones are being able to completely hide my presence, active and passive radars that can reach up to 754 kilometers before losing accuracy depending on the scan objective. I can access and manipulate any known technology within a two second time limit. I can access and manipulate memories to a certain extent and can alter how people perceive things by touching them."

Tabithas emotions spiked at the mentioned memory alteration. Something which didn't go unnoticed by Nymph.

The angeloid was having a hard time dealing with the emotions and thoughts that she was being bombarded with. Normally she would only receive direct orders and and plans from her master but what she was receiving from her new master was, in two words, utter chaos. While she had no problem filtering through the information, she couldn't make rime or reason out of many of them. She could filter out concern and something about her master's mother, but the rest she couldn't identify at all. Even when her master formed proper sentences and direct them at Nymph, they come with petabytes of trash data. And, without any filter -not that she could apply any as the cain input was absolute- she had to work through every single bit of them. It was annoying and used up nearly 16% of all her cpu capabilities. She didn't dare to inform her new master of it.

"For now, answer only to the questions I ask you per voice." Tabitha said. "What do you mean by hide your presence?"

Nymph chose to show her new master, instead of going into a long winded explanation. She stood up from her kneeling position and said. "P-Stealth System activate." The instant Nymph said those words her body began to dissolve in front of Tabitha. In front of her was absolutely nothing left of Nymph, who banished for a few second before fading back into existence. "I have absolute control over who can see and hear me in this mode, and who can't. It costs energy to hold it active and I can only use it for about 32 hours before I need to recharge for 4 hours. After that recharge, I can use it for another 32 hours. I can use this on me and others but for a heightened energy cost."

Now THAT was very useful. "I order you to stay visible to only me as long there is someone observing us in any way."

"Yes master. Bu,t may I repair my wing as the loss of one hinders my systems?"

She agreed, and with that Tabitha and her angeloid mader their way back to the academy.

* * *

They arrived at the academy with an invisible Nymph. They reached Tabitha's room while the mage started to think about how to tell Louise that she just literally enslaved the enemy that had just tried to kill them.

She didn't get much time to think as the door was ripped open and she was enveloped into a bear hug. Quite the accomplishment considering that Louise was barely the second shortest person in this academy. "Tabitha! Are you ok, they didn't hurt you, did they?"

"I am uninjured. And you?" Tabitha asked back. Telling that she was missing an arm, but that it had been replaced by some strange construct, was not an option she was comfortable with.

She made a mental note to ask about her new limb in detail later.

"A bit shaken but, otherwise, ok." Louise threw a worried look back. "Ikaros still has a hole in her wing, but she said that it will be fine." Considering that Nymph mentioned that she could somehow replace her still missing wing, that was hardly surprising.

"Is no one concerned about me?" Kirche threw in. Tabitha felt a bit guilty at leaving them with the two others, way more dangerous-looking, angeloids. But if she were to face one of them she would have probably died a painfull death.

"When you can complain, then that means you are fine." Rude. "How did you escape? Those two hunted us to the bottom of Albion before we lost them!" Now that sounded like a story she wanted to hear, but Tabitha really didn't want to talk about it right now.

"It is a bit of a long story." Tabitha said dodging the question. "I will tell you tomorrow. I am really tired, do you mind if I have the room for myself tonight?" She felt a bit guilty, she quite like Louise's company.

"Of course not." Louise said. "But tomorrow we need to talk about what in the founder's name happened today." We will when I found a way to explain, Tabitha thought.

"I second that." Kirche said. "I mean, they made it pretty clear what they wanted but, why and who were they?" She said as she started to leave the room. "Good night Tabitha."

"Good night." Louise said leaving the room.

Although Tabitha really wanted her to stay, the only response she got out of her lips was. "Good night."

After Kirche and Louise left, the room felt in silence. A strange thing considering how loud her life had been lately. She walked to her bed and let herself drop onto it, her staff still in an iron grip. Considering who her invisible company was, she doubted she would ever let it go again.

"My, my." The air around Tabitha began to bend in a strange way. "How naughty!" A shape that was slightly larger than Tabitha began to appear around her. "Lying to your friends like that." A fully visible Nymph had her arms and legs gripping Tabitha as she whispered into her ear. "My Master."

Tabithas every hair stood straight. And she really was confused as to what the sudden change in behaviour was about. "Nymph." She said in a strained voice. "Why are you hugging me?"

"Because your mind ordered it." The terrifying angel whispered into her ear with the sweetest of voices. "That you wanted close company like that."

Tabitha slowly turned her head and was face to face with the angeloid that just hours ago had blasted off her arm and who currently was looking at her with half lidded eyes and wore a horrifyingly effective smile only a breath away from Tabitha.

She took a deep breath and beat away the emotional tornado that was swirling in her mind."Nymph, I order you to get off the bed."

She quickly did as ordered and looked as if nothing of any relevance happend at all. Tabitha remember that one of her main functions was entertainment. A cold shiver ran down her spine at the implications.

Tabitha doubted that she would get much sleep in the coming nights.

* * *

Kirche, after the tiring day, was on the way to her room, with Louise next to her and Ikaros right behind her. The trio walked in silence and, while it hurt Kirche to admit it, they still weren't exactly friend's. It was more like they both were friends with Tabitha, and were willing to put up with each other but, beyond that, not much else.

That Louise disliked her was no secret. Although, well, she did poke fun at her quite a bit.

Kirche reached her room door and she turned to the waking Louise and in a single moment decided that she would try to befriend her. "Good night Louise."

Louise turned with surprise written on her face. "Good... night."

Kirche was happy that she at least got this one small non hostile conversation.

The moment she entered she was attacked by her own familiar.

"Flame!" She said while shielding herself from the gigantic lizards tongue that was bombarding her. "I will have to thank Tabitha latter."

* * *

Julio was tired, he just reached the pope's quarters to give his report on this confusing mission.

He knocked, and the pope asked him in. When Julio entered he was greeted kindly. "Ah, Julio how was the mission?"

"It was... strange... to say the least." He explained. "We reached the academy in acceptable time and I got a good look at the mentioned familiar. The headmaster Immediately knew who was ment in this letter, and also explained the situation with a great deal of humor." Julio was grinning at the mentioned meeting. "One of the students, the youngest daugher of the de La Vallière matriarch to be exact, summoned a creature that reminded me of the harpies of the west. Only with less claws, and more human-like. Some student thought that it was an angel, if I understood the situation correctly."

Julio was expecting a smile on the pope's face at the ridiculous notion, but instead what he found was a great amount of concern. "Julio, describe this familiar in the greatest amount of detail possible."

In the future Julio would remember how with every detail the pope's face lost just a little bit of hope until only void was readable on his face.

* * *

Gomo and Kuru where screwed in nearly every way that they could think of. First, they failed to actually destroy the Alpha angeloid, then they lost one of the main cannons to means that they didn't understand yet, and now, after they finally got out from under that rock, they had to come to terms with the fact that they had no idea where the Alpha had gone to. To make matters even worse, they had lost all contact with Nymph and, while they found her to be annoying, the loss of a fellow angeloid, the last of her kind at that, was catastrophic.

"We have to inform master of this." Kuru said with a heavy heart.

"He will probably have us molten down to slab for this failure." Her sister said fearfully. She always was the more emotional one of the two, even before they got upgraded to anti-angeloid-warfare class. Now that she thought about it, of the few angeloids that survived the destruction, Nymph and The Alpha angeloid where the only true warfare angeloids left.

"Maybe, but it's not like we can do anything about it." She said while opening a channel.

They waited a few seconds and soon the words of a administrative angeloid opened. "This is Gamma squad designation Kuru and Gomo." She said and, after another long and painful, second she added."We have a report to master Minos."

"Patching through." Came the short reply.

"Gamma, I wasn't expecting this quick of a report, I hope you bring good news." Minos voice was sounding hopeful over the coms.

"Master, we managed to locate the missing Alpha and confront her away from civilization, but… there have been complications." She added heavily at the end.

"What kind of complications, and why do we have signal of you two again but not of Beta?"

"We, lost contact with Beta when we went on pursued of Alpha, who was fleeing with her new master."

Minos was silent for a few moments. "So, just so I get all of this right, you located the rogue angeloid, who has a new master, attacked her and not only failed but somehow, in all of this, you lost one of the only remaining true warfare class angeloids, the only one who had the sensors necessary to track the rogue Alpha!?" At the end he was trembling with rage, as was evident in his voice.

"Master, can't you connect to her with your imprinting?" Gomo added desperately.

"IT HAS BEEN SEVERED!" The angry man screamed out and the two angeloids flinched badly. Something like calming breaths could be heard for a short while. "You mentioned something of a new master she had."

"Yes, the human girl, she has taken ownership of Alpha. Her name is Vallière and she seems to be part of the human nobility." Kuru quickly explained.

"Well, that is at least something." He said with tiredness clear in his voice."Do you have any idea how Beta was taken out?"

"No master, we lost connection to her when Alpha started to flee. There was something else master, the Alpha was behaving, strange to say the least, nothing like what she was when she attacked the Synapse."

There was a few seconds of silence before Minos spoke again. "You two are to return to synapse immediately and report to the angeloid smith, she will give you repairs and you will standby for orders. For now, we have to assume that there is something on earth, maybe even in human possession, that can take out angeloids."

"Yes master!" The two of them said simultaneously. The call ended and one of the most terrifying moments in the two Gammas life's passed.


End file.
